The Rock Youth Team from NAC, Canada arrived today in Kenya to work with the TI Kenya crew. You can follow their group blog by visiting http://www.teamkenya2009.blogspot.com. We will also be posting some updated with pictures about their adventures over the next 10 days.

After the widows finish weeding their gardens, they will apply the top dressing. This is the final stage of the process. All that remains before the harvest is the wait.

The rainy season began well, but there hasn’t been rain for over two weeks. The crops are showing first signs of drying. As each rainless day passes, the prayers of these women increase. Their lives literally depend on the success of their crops.

We will continue to bring you updates as the maize grows and is harvested around November.

We started the project in June of 2008 with six girls that we had been building relationships with for over a year. These girls were hard core street girls, living the life of prostitution and had become addicted to shoe repair glue (cheap and easy to access).

We hired the staff, at the time it was just a house mother, Janet and a teacher, Nancy. We decorated the house and brought the girls to their home. Within a month or so, one by one those original six girls began leaving to go back to the streets. It was a life that they had always known and just couldn’t seem to break free from. All but one of those original six girls, left. And it broke our hearts. But we saw the one, Sarah, and focused on her. And shortly after the other girls left, we brought in five new girls. We added a seamstress, Joyce, so now the girls were receiving basic education in the mornings and being taught tailoring in the afternoons.

In December of 2008, Sarah, our original girl, was reunited with her family. She had made amends and decided to go back and be with them. This was what we know as a “happily every after.” And to us, if this was the only “happy ending” that came out of Neema’s, then it would all be worth it to us.

Also, at the end of 2008, we needed to replace the teacher and we wondered how we could find another that would love the girls like we did, that would be patient and understanding of the girl’s struggles of dealing with the past they came from. But our prayers were answered with a wonderful woman, Joan. She started in January and has been an amazing addition to our girls. The girls are speaking, reading and writing in English now. They have far more confidence in themselves, thanks to their house mother, teacher and seamstress.

In May, we again were saddened by the running away of one of girls. She had decided to go back to the streets where she felt she could make money doing what most of the street girls do: prostitution. However, her bed didn’t stay empty for long.

On our one year anniversary, we brought some treats for the girls to celebrate this special day. We started a water balloon fight with the girls, to which they had never played but loved right from the beginning.

Also on our one year anniversary, we were visited by a woman and a younger girl. The woman was the older sister to this young girl, Olivia. Olivia has come from a life of rejection and as her sister talked with us; we all couldn’t help but fall in love with this new girl. And with the unanimous decision of the staff and the current girls living in the home, Olivia was welcomed with open arms to be a part of Neema.

These girls are not just a project; they are part of our family. Their passion to succeed and become strong and self-sufficient women is powerful and huge. Each of these girls has been worth every heartbreak, every sweat and every tear. We are so very proud of our girls and look forward to another year with them.

--Meredith Stewart

TI has been doing home parties and crafts sales, mostly in the Reno area, for the past two years. The crafts are brought from Kenya and sold in the U.S. and Canada. Some of these crafts are made by the widows TI is working with; all of the crafts are made by people in poverty.

Every craft bought helps two groups; first it helps the person making it. TI buys the craft right from the artist; giving them a very fair price so they can in turn feed their family. Second, all the profit from each craft sold goes right back into helping people in Kenya through TI.

Let me give some examples.

This year, TI is sending 7 orphans through secondary school. 5 students are not sponsored, but supported by the money raised from the crafts sales. It cost over $600 per kid per year for secondary school… that’s a lot of wooden spoons!

Every once in a while, the TI Kenya staff will meet a family in need, but who does not qualify for a TI program. Because of the money from the crafts, we are able to support a family or a child for an extended period of time. In July 2008, TI found a family living in the slums, a single mother with her 6 children. She had a small business, but her meager income was not providing fully for her kids. In fact, the kids weren’t even going to school. TI came in, got all the kids in school, put one of the older daughters in a trade school and helped the mother to expand her business. In the past 10 months, TI has spent over $1500 on food, household items and school fees for this family. That was all money from crafts sold. TI is slowly pulling out assistance to the family as the mother’s business becomes more stable. In only a few months time, the family will be self sustainable. Thanks for buying that carving.  

One of the biggest improvements to the HBF children’s home last year was the addition of house parents. The 27 kids only had a house mother who was too busy cooking and cleaning to be able to mother the children. TI kept the old staff and added a husband and wife team as house parents for the home, parents who were able to give the children the love, affection and care they needed. TI did not have their meager combined $150 monthly salary built into the budget, but thanks to the crafts sales, we are able to employ amazing parents for our kids.

These are just a few of the many examples of how the crafts many of you buy change the lives of the people in Kenya. Buying a $5 necklace doesn’t seem like much, but it makes a big difference to someone.

Thank you for the part you play. Thank you also to the amazing team who volunteers countless hours to unpack, label, transport and sell the items. Not only are you a hope for the hopeless, but a voice in the midst of disparity.  

It’s been a few months of change in the Neema Girls House, here in Kitale, Kenya. In January, we brought in two new girls and a new teacher.

Our new girls, Elizabeth and Loice (rhymes with noise) have been a warm welcome in to Neema’s. Elizabeth, age 16, comes from a remote village where education for girls her age doesn’t happen and being given away in marriage is the next step in life. Loise, age 15, ran away to the streets to escape the abuse of a step-parent. Both Elizabeth and Loice are very bright, respectful and work hard around the home and in school.

Our new teacher, Joan, is a retired primary school teacher from our community. She has brought so much life and self-esteem to the girls at Neema’s. She also has a background in guidance and counseling, which is what has contributed greatly to the positive self-esteem in these girls’ lives. They are learning their basic education and especially English at a quick rate. It’s been amazing to see the subtle positive changes in the girls.

One of our girls, Sarah, who has been with Neema’s since July 2008, when the program started, has been reunited with her family. Sarah visited with her family during the Christmas holidays and requested that she stay longer with them and after that time, she had worked things out with her family and wanted to remain at her home. This is a wonderful happy ending to our time with her.

This home isn’t just about getting girls off the street and getting them educated and teaching them a trade. It’s also about the healing and forgiving process; forgiving themselves and the one’s who may have hurt them in the past. This project does have it challenges but in the end, the rewards far outweigh the challenges.

- Meredith

By: Cody Lacelle, Riley Clarke, Jessica Groulx, Krysta Warkentin & Ashley Joanisse

After five years of living in Kenya, often in a mud hut with no electricity, Daniel Lipparelli continues to expand his development work abroad by talking to high school students. On Tuesday, February 24th, Lipparelli visited the small Northern Ontario high school of F.J. McElligott.

After five years of projects and international travel, Sandy Foster is continuing to expand her development work abroad by taking on an entire community.

Having helped build orphanages, women's co-operatives and schools in Kenya, the Callander resident was approached to develop an entire village.

The former child play therapist found her love for Africa when travelling with her husband many years ago. Seeing the number of street kids and the lack of infrastructure pushed her to return for three weeks every fall, bringing school supplies, food and blankets with her.

This past September, Foster made her fourth trip to Kenya along with a group of local residents. Together they travelled to the northwest part of of the country to the village of Kolongola. What they found there was a remote community of 15 women supporting 67 children.

I was very taken with this place," she said.

They started with getting school uniforms for as many children as possible and arranged for a school to be built. The building is now the centre of the community, as a place of worship, a school and a gathering place.

Foster wouldn't have found out about the village had it not been for Daniel Lipparelli. Originally from Nevada, Lipparelli has been living and working in Kenya since 2004, helping to co-ordinate many of Foster's projects and continues them throughout the year.

He is very well respected there and speaks very good Swahili," Foster said.

Lipparelli will be in North Bay Feb. 22 to speak at Trinity United Church at 7 p. m. He plans to share with the community how their contributions have changed people's lives.

We couldn't do what we do without North Bay's support," she said.

Part of what keeps Foster going back is the changes she sees in the people from year to year. Before leaving Kolongola, they helped set up a women's group that makes reusable sanitary napkins out of cloth

If you can't afford to eat, the last thing you'd buy is sanitary napkins," she said.

The project has given the women pride that they can produce a product they can use themselves as well as sell. She hopes to bring back seeds and sewing machines this fall.

The goal is to help the community become self sufficient within three years.

Although her group has made many improvements, she has also seen problems grow.

While AIDS is still widespread, other preventable diseases such as tuberculosis are spreading quickly through children across the country.

This fall, Foster is bringing a nursing student with her to help teach first aid and disease prevention.

Foster understands that poverty isn't just a problem in Africa, it also exists in her own community. But Foster feels that Canadians have so many social services to rely on, while in Kenya there are very little, especially for rural women and children.

We have infrastructure here. There is no reason why people need to go hungry," she said.

She hopes bringing high school students with her in 2010 will help spread the message.

Many area schools have raised thousands of dollars for her over the years and she wants the students to be able to experience what it is like to do development work.

Most people just want to do something to help," she said


North Bay Nugget
February 9, 2009
http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1426263
Posted By JENNY POTTER, THE NUGGET

Kenya is to declare a national emergency because of a drought affecting the East African country.

Thank You!

Thank you to all who gave of their time, finances and prayers to the children and projects of Transformed International. 2008 has been a fantastic year! I’m amazed at what the Lord has done this year. I can’t imagine what 2009 will bring.


TI’s Second Annual Christmas Party

Last week TI held its second annual Christmas party at the TI compound in Kitale. The purpose of the party was to celebrate all that Lord has done within the year and to bring all the different TI projects together.



For most of the children TI supports, this was their first time to meet. The party was a complete success with over 260 people in attendance. The day was full of games, food, presentations of songs and dances by each project and ended with each child getting a gift bag.

A special thanks to Newmarket Alliance Church who made this even possible. Also, thanks to Meredith and the TI Kenya team for all their preparation work.



Well at HBF Children’s Home

Thanks to the contribution of Arrowhead Community Church, the children at HBF children’s home will soon not have to walk over a mile each way to get water. They will have water in their own back yard.


The construction of a shallow well began 2 weeks ago and completion is expected before Christmas.

The well will be about 70 feet deep with cement lined walls and a built in hand pump. The source of clean water will also be made available for community to use.




Kolongolo School

The construction of the Kolongolo school is about complete. The school will offer pre-school education to the needy children and orphans in the community. The final funds have reached Kenya and the school will be finished, complete with desks, before the New Year.


Maili Saba Widow’s Project

The widow’s project in Maili Saba is progressing well. They have almost completed the first batch of products. The women have rented a small store front in the shopping center and are receiving orders for the products. The first set of finished items will be sold the second week of January.


Card Project



Two month’s ago, Lauren started a project with two girls from Shimo slums making greeting cards. Both of these girls, Faith and Jacinta grew up in one of the many slums in Kitale. The girl’s were abandoned by their father when they were young and grew up missing years of school at a time because of lack of school fees or having to work to get food to help their mother feed the 6 kids in the family. The girls, 17 and 20 years old are too old for school. Now, through making the cards and selling them in the U.S. and Canada, the girls will be able to make enough money to go to a trade school of their choice.

The project has been very successful as the girls have already made over 100 cards and are meeting daily to make more. At the same time building a lasting friendship with Lauren as they talk about life issues and making good choices.

Through this project, these girls will be able to pull out of the slum life, being destined for prostitution or early marriage like many of their friends.

Food Crises in Kenya

Due to the current global financial crises, political violence earlier this year and the drastic rise of fertilizer, the price of staple food in Kenya right now is outrageous and the amount of food is dwindling quickly. The government food storages are empty with little hope of filling them. A sack of maize corn that could be bought a year ago at $16 is now costing $30 and expected to rise to $40 by the end of January. By April it will be hard to find any maize at all.

Thanks to the crafts sold at home parties in the U.S. and generous financial donations, TI was able to buy over 260 sacks of maize that is expected to support most TI projects for all of 2009. The Maize is being stored at several different locations across the country. Having this maize in store has offered a great sense of security to TI knowing that we will be able to provide for yet another year.


WCDSS Sales for High School kids in Kenya

Last week, crafts were sold at Washoe County Social Services to raise funds to send kids to high school in Kenya. Secondary education in Kenya is not free and in fact, very costly. Thanks to the sales of Kenyan crafts at WCDSS, TI will be able to send 10 children to high school in 2009.

Thank you WCDSS for opening your doors to TI!


TI Kenya Team in U.S. and Canada

Sean Stewart and Meredith Lopez (TI Kenya Directors) will be leaving Kenya this weekend to return to Canada to prepare for their wedding. They will be there until mid February 2009. If you are interested in meeting with them or having them speak, please contact them at:

meredith@transformedinternational.org
sean@transformedinternational.org

Daniel Lipparelli (International TI Director) will be in Canada from February 17th to 28th and then in the U.S. until the end of April 2009. If you would like to meet with him or have him speak, please contact him at:

daniel@transformedinternational.org


2009 TI Kenya Internship Program

For those who have requested applications for the spring 2009 Kenya Internship Program, applications are due by February 1st 2009. If you would like an application or more info, please contact support@transformedinternational.org or visit the web page http://www.transformedinternational.org/.

I can’t believe that we are only one month away from the end of another year. It baffles me as to how fast this year has gone by and how much the Lord has done in such a short time. Since the beginning of TI, we, the TI team, have never asked the Lord to bless what we are doing or to bless TI. But rather we have said “Lord, show us where you are alive and doing something and take us there…” That is just what He has done. This is a ministry, an organization that is directed by the Lord and His Will is prevalent.

Meredith Lopez (TI Sponsorship Coordinator) is now engaged to Sean Stewart (TI Canada Board member). Sean and Meredith will be leaving Kenya in three weeks to go back to Canada and prepare for their wedding that will take place in February. They will then come back to Kenya as a married couple and as the Directors of Transformed International Kenya. I’ve had the privilege of working with Meredith in TI for one and a half years, I’ve also become very close to Sean these past 4 months as I’ve been teaching him everything I know about working, living, and loving in Kenya. I have been nothing but impressed by his desire and work ethic. Sean has also added a lot to the leadership of the internship program. I believe that there are no two better people to oversee the work TI is doing in Kenya.

After reading that, some may be wondering where that leaves me… It leaves me available to expand TI to other countries. The model that TI has established for caring for orphans and for the poor is first of all one that not many people are doing and second, it is completely reproducible. It is something that can’t be confined just to Kenya. I don’t know for sure where the Lord will take TI next, maybe to starting something in another country or to work with other organizations who want to establish such models. My goal is not to expand TI, but to expand the number of orphans and poor who are being cared for. The name that is attached to the work doesn’t matter, but only that the work gets done.

I will be traveling to Canada and the US at the end of February and will be there for a few months. I will be speaking at various venues as the doors open. After that I plan to come back to Kenya for a month before exploring the expansion of caring for the poor in other countries.

Internship Program

This fall’s Kenya internship program is coming to an end after three months of life changing experiences. This was the third set of interns to go through the program in the last two years. I am overwhelmed by the growth and maturity seen in each person.

The next program will begin the first week of April 2009 and run for three months. Space is limited to 6 people. If you are interested in an application, please e-mail daniel@transformedinternational.org.

Neema Girl’s Project

The girls at the Neema home are doing great. There is a noticeable change in their hearts from week to week. The girls finished their second term of school and are learning to read and write. They also made their first skirts in their sewing class.

Last month, the girls finished their probation period and as a reward got to have lunch in town and go to the museum. They also got school shoes. Looking at these girls, in their school uniforms, eating lunch like young women, no one would ever believe the past lives they came from. The TI staff was so proud of them.

As the Neema program continues, the system is tweaked and becomes more refined. We are learning a lot. Every month becomes easier. Within a short time, the Neema Girl’s project will be a very successful model for those who want to start programs working with the street girls.

Kolongolo Preschool

The construction of the preschool in Kolongolo village is progressing quickly. The school is expected to be completed by the end of December in order to be able to accommodate 60 children: orphans, children of widowed mothers and those from poor families. The school will educate young children to prepare them for primary school.

TI currently sponsors 8 orphans in the Kolongolo village through home based care. This school will be a huge addition to the village.

The school will also be a church on Sundays and a community center for the widow’s micro businesses.


Kolongolo children get school shoes

Over 30 children, both orphaned and those of widowed mothers, got new school shoes. For most, this was the first pair of shoes they have ever owned. Thank you friends from Canada for making this possible!


Maili Saba Widows Project

Five widows in Maili Saba began a business this month making women’s reusable sanitary products. The women are being taught how to sew and make the product. This last week they were trained in basic business management and marketing. It will be their job to not only make the product, but to market it. The women are very excited about the product because of its practicality and need.

The product should be ready for sale by mid December.

Sponsorship Program

New orphans have been added to the TI web page to be sponsored. If you are interested in sponsoring an orphan, check it out.


HBF

TI welcomes the newest addition to the children’s home, Stewart the cow. Stewart was born this past weekend.

Upcoming Events

December is update month on the children in the sponsorship program. Sponsors, keep a watch for updated pictures, reports and a letter from the child you sponsor.

The Second Annual TI Christmas party will be held on December 12th of this year. Over 200 people have been invited this year.

Money has been donated for a well at Hope Bright Future Children’s Home. This will allow the children to have water on site rather than walking over a mile each way to the nearest water. The project is expected to begin next week and will only take a few weeks to complete.

-Daniel Lipparelli

The past few weeks have been quite busy here in Kenya. We had the privilege to host an amazing group from Canada, called Team Tumaini (www.hope2Kenya.org), led by Sandy Foster.

Food Distribution

Team Tumaini, along with the help from TI, distributed over 30,000 lbs of food, such as maize corn and beans and over 450 blankets to 150 families in four different locations around the Kitale area.

Our first location, we were greeted by the beautiful singing voices of grandmothers and widows, thankful and emotional for the fact that their grandchildren and children would not be going to bed hungry that evening. This was our largest distribution, assisting 108 families. It was wonderful to see the smiles on the children’s faces as they received lollypops from the team and seeing the food and blankets that they would be bringing to their homes that evening.

Our second location was to a slum area, just outside of Kitale town. Again, we were greeted by over 50 grandmothers and widows, with their children/grandchildren by their sides. As some of the team members handed out the lollypops to the children, the rest of the team members handed out food and blankets and prayed for each family.

Both of these locations were difficult and emotional for the teams. There were many children with dirty bodies and dirty clothes but the smiles on their faces were wonderful to witness.

Our third location was a small village. Here we assisted three families; two widows and one grandmother.

Our fourth location was one of the most difficult areas we had ever been to. It was deep in the village, over an hour’s drive from Kitale town on dirt, rough roads. This is an area that has been hit hard with HIV/AIDS as well as husbands/fathers dying due to violent clashes with a bordering tribe.

We assisted 15 families in this area, not only with food and blankets but with uniforms so that the children in this community would be able to attend public primary school. This is a completely impoverished area; the women can not afford food, let alone school uniforms and nursery school fees for their children to attend school.

Team Tumaini was so touched by this community that they have decided to purchase 3-acres of land and build a temporary nursery school building so that children have the chance to be able to attend primary school.

The overall experience for the team has been an emotional one, opening up the eyes to the poverty that truly spreads across this country.

Before handing out the food, the TI staff assessed each family to make sure they qualified to receive the food. During this time, TI came across many orphaned children who will fit into the home based care program. Please keep looking back to our webpage for new children that desperately need support.

Thank you Team Tumaini for allowing TI to be a part of this wonderful experience.

Last week the Neema Girl’s received a visit from Team Tumaini, the major sponsor of this project.

The girls shared stories from their past, performed traditional dances, demonstrated their knowledge of sewing and academics.

The team played games, did crafts and brought new clothes for the girls.

The girls at the project are doing so well. Every week, the problems decrees greatly and the breakthroughs increase.

Thank you Team Tumaini and the individuals who have helped to change the lives of these young girls.

The following article was in the Reno Gazette on September 14th.

If you are in Reno on the 20th of this month, please support Theresa and the team running for TI.

Daniel Lipparelli of Sparks was just looking for an adventure. He wanted to see the world and figure out where he fit in. After attending a presentation about an orphanage in Kenya, the idea of going there personally to help out became a calling.

Daniel worked for an orphanage, lived in a mud hut and saw firsthand the squalor that children there take for granted. He saw corruption beyond his own belief. He saw young girls and boys living on the streets and widows who had lost all hope.

He decided then and there that he could help. He didn't have much money, but he had the will to make it happen. He was transformed, from someone looking for a future to one creating a future for others.

Transformed International is now in its fourth year. It is a nonprofit relief agency that runs an orphanage, a widow's project and a program to get kids off the street and teach them marketable skills. Daniel runs it all on the faith that what he needs will somehow find him. And so far that theory has worked.

In his world, just a little caring saves lives. Lives are lost to the mere lack of immunizations and clean water. His organization provides both, plus feeds and clothes those in his care at the rate of about a dollar per person per day. The African beads that the Widows Project turns out are shipped to the U.S. and sold to make the widows productive and self-sufficient.

His contribution has helped turn oppressive despair into hope for the future. And his story has inspired others to join the team.

Others, like Theresa Long. For years she's been on a personal search, feeling pulled to the same way of helping. And on the 20th of this month, she'll be putting that need into action with 11 other teammates, lacing up her shoes and running in this year's Journal Jog.

This is the 40th year for that fundraiser that focuses on funding literacy and education projects. Runners pay a registration fee that funds the Gazette Foundation. Everyone taking part contributes to the overall cause. Last year, money went to Grace Warner Elementary.

In addition, Theresa and her teammates have gathered pledges of support they hope will get them closer to their goal of buying a truck for Transformed International, which would be used to haul corn. And in many ways it seems like a small contribution. But in the scheme of things, it's that small contribution that can mean so much.

About 1,500 of you will take part in the Journal Jog next weekend ... each of you doing your part to fund community projects here. And among that sea of sneakers will be a dozen pair taking steps to help here and to save lives halfway around the world.

Sometimes your little bit of caring really can go a very long way.

Erin Breen is a Reno freelance writer and anchor of the Channel 2 News This Morning.

The girl’s at the Neema Girl’s project are doing wonderful. The group now seems stable and ready to make the effort to change their lives. This month TI hired a part time seamstress to teach the girls several hours a day how to sew. The girls have taken a great interest and want to spend all their free time practicing on the machine.

The goal is to give each girl a skill that will help her in the future to start her own business. Learning to sew, for some, is just a spring board to further things, and for others, it is a skill that will allow them to support themselves and a family some day.

The schools all over Kenya as well as the Neema Girl’s school have been closed for the month of August. They will begin their normal classes on the 8^th of September. The Neema girl’s classes will go from 8:00am to 1:00pm then they will spend their afternoons with the seamstress learning to make dresses. The girl’s have each designed their dress that they want to make.

We continue to learn more and more every day in caring for the ex street girls.

Hope Bright Future Children’s home is sponsored and supported by Transformed International. I’m excited to bring a few updates about the home. There are currently 24 orphans living here with the most recent addition of House Parents.

TI saw the need for the children to have a mother and father who are not only meeting their basic needs but also their emotional and relational needs. TI is excited to welcome Ben and Virginia and their two sons Elvis and Daniel to the home. After only two weeks of serving as the house parents, I’ve seen a huge change in the children. The home staff now includes the house parents, an assistant mother and cook. In addition, the home is overseen daily be the director and founder.

We are also excited about the Flower, the cow. Flower was added to the family last week. She is pregnant and after giving birth, will be providing milk daily for the children.

The last addition to the home is the “Chepkuba” in the kitchen. This a traditional cooking stove used by those who want to save on the use of fire wood. The 82 year old man who built this one was from the deep village. Already we have seen a reduction in the consumption of fire wood.

The children all closed the school last week and have a month off, to rest and play. They are in great health and doing well.

Every once in a while we come across a family or situation that doesn’t fit into what TI is doing, but we just can’t turn and look the other way. Rather we feel pulled to help them out.

A few weeks ago we were prompted by some friends to look into the home life of a 14 year old girl in their program. Some of the team made a visit to the home and brought the report to our next staff meeting.

Phyllis and her husband had 5 children. As the children grew, the stress of caring for so many kids became too much for their father. He abandoned the whole family. When he left, Phyllis was expecting another child. Months later she found herself with 6 children in a small one room house in the slums. She had no income and all these mouths to feed. For the last 6 years, she has struggled to care for her children by doing causal labor. Half of the children don’t attend school and the ones who do are far behind for their age. As the three girls grow older; now 14, 16 and 19; the quick money found in prostitution can become very enticing, especially when living in the slums filled with drunken men.

The TI team went into action and came up with a plan. Thanks to the sales of crafts at SCF last month, we have the money needed to give this family a new beginning. We are going to buy them a small plot of land out of the slums and build them a mud house. We will then begin a business for Phyllis, make sure the 4 younger kids have everything they need for school and take the two older girls to be trained in tailoring and hair dressing. In addition, the family will be supported with $100 a month to assist with food, education and medical care.

Next time you buy a craft from TI and wonder where the money will go… it goes to helping people like Phyllis and her 6 children. Their lives will never be the same.

Last week the TI team had the privilege to build a house for 6 orphaned children and their grandparents who are caring for them. The family currently lives in a small mud house with a grass roof that leaks whenever it rains.

The parents of the 6 children died several years ago from AIDs and the youngest child too is infected. All of these children are sponsored monthly through TI. TI provides food, education, clothes, and medical care for them.

Because the family has their own small plot of land, TI decided to build them a new house. The cost of a mud house with two bedrooms and a sitting room is about $500 U.S.D. About $300 is just for the iron sheet roofing. The family said that they never thought in their life that they would live in a house with a metal roof.

As the TI team took off their shoes and jumped into a mud pile, the Kenyans stopped and watched in awe. “We never thought a white person could do this kind of work,” they commented. They were shocked that an American would be willing to get dirty. Building a house out of mud (and getting dirty) is a job reserved for the poor people and those who live deep in the villages.

The TI team was honored to help build the mud house for the family. After finishing, some of the team asked when we would be building another one. They were ready for more mud.

The joy on the faces of the family as they stacked mud balls on each wall was overwhelming. I’m so grateful for everyone who makes it possible to help the widows, feed the hungry and provide for the orphans. You may never fully know the impact that you are making.

The house is almost finished, just a few more layers of mud before the family can move in. They can’t wait!

On July 7^th-11^th Transformed International was invited by Sparks Christian Fellowship, a church in the Reno area, to partner with them and teach their children about missions during their annual Kids Kamp. SCF has never partnered with a ministry before during their Kid’s Kamp week, but after the leader of their Kids Kamp had T.I. come across her desk four times in one week she said she couldn’t deny that God obviously had a plan and wanted them to involve TI in their Kid’s Kamp this year. She called us and coordinated plans for us to be a part of their Kids Kamp as their Missions Focus.

Monday through Friday, Faith Hepner, one of our volunteers for TI in Reno, taught 250 children about missions and Africa nightly at their evening Kids Kamp. On the first night, after sharing how children can be saved from Malaria by buying medicine for a mere $.50 cents a young boy came up to her with a pleading look on his face and his hand outstretched with all the change he had in his pockets asking, “Will this save someone?” The response from the children throughout the week was overwhelming! The leaders announced that every night the children could come up and put money into their “Missions Jar” to give to the children in Africa. Many parents throughout the week blamed their upturned couches and chairs within their homes on us because the children were searching for any spare change they could bring in to help the orphans in Africa. Every night the jar would be overflowing with dollar bills and change the children brought from home to give to orphans in Africa. A mother shared that her boys were searching her house and ordered her husband off of his recliner so they could search for change. When he was hesitant to get up after a long day at work she said that her son stood in front of his father with his hands on his hip and said, “Dad, get up! We’re saving lives!”

The enlightenment on the children’s faces as they participated all week in hands on activities, sang songs from Africa and listened to stories about life in Africa from a child’s point of view was a blessing to witness and be a part of!

On Thursday, Hope Hepner, another TI volunteer in Reno, played her guitar and sang songs as she taught them songs in Swahili and let them all play various African instruments. The staff were touched as they walked by the room and heard all their children’s voices singing praises to God in another language.

Friday, the last day of Kids Kamp, parents were invited to come and participate with their children. TI was invited to bring crafts to sell on Friday night and also Sunday morning to support the ministry in addition to what the children brought in. The overwhelming support from the leadership and volunteers at SCF was amazing! Sunday the church prayed for TI in both services and announced that their children had raised over $1100 in change and donations over the week from their Missions Jar!!! We were given a box of change so heavy we could barely lift it from the weight of the coins!

Sunday we met absolutely overwhelming response from parents of children who had participated in Kids Kamp all week sharing just how much they had been impacted by what they’d learned about Africa. Quite a few teenagers and young people even shared how they’d been impressed to go to Kenya as a missionary just from what they’d heard and learned. We have no idea how God will use this week in the lives of these children in the years to come but we are blessed to have been asked to be a part of it!

Transformed International would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Sparks Christian Fellowship, the leadership, children, and volunteers for welcoming us into their church and generously letting us partner with them during their Kids Kamp week! We were blessed beyond measure to witness and be a part of your children’s lives all week. Thank you for your support!

This past weekend, the TI team attended the launching of a children’s ministry in the Kolongolo Village located about 20 miles from Kitale town. We heard that this village was riddled with orphans and widowed mother, but we had no idea the mass amount we would find. We requested to do assessments on those who were just the close neighbors where the event was being held. About two hours later, we had met with dozens of orphans and children living with desperate widowed mothers. Some of the kids were sick and most of them were not attending school.

TI identified many children who will be introduced into the sponsorship program. All of these children are living with their grandmothers.

The other cases we found were the widows, some as young as 28 years old, caring for their children with nothing more than a half acre of land to cultivate, producing not nearly enough food for their children. Although TI doesn’t have a specific program we hope to have some extra funding to buy these widows and their children food and also to help them plow and plant their land and offer any assistance possible to help them get their children into school. This might mean buying a uniform and shoes.

Check back in the next two weeks for the profiles of these orphan children on the sponsorship page.

Neema is Swahili for grace. The street girl’s project has been named Neema because of God’s grace upon the lives of these girls and the new beginning they can have in life.

The project is entering into the 7^th week and only one of the original 6 girls are in the home, yet new girls have been added to replace those who left. Although we are saddened by the departure of the girls who didn’t stay with the program, we know that with each one who left, they opened up a spot for a girl who really wants to change and to have a home and a new life. Through the challenges, we are learning so many things. The goal of starting this project was not only to help these girl’s who once called the streets of Kitale home, but also to learn and develop a model for caring for street girls, a model that can be reproduced in different places around the country and around the world.

A young teenage girl who uses drugs, calls begging and prostitution her “job,” and who was raped for the first time at 10 years old, this girl can’t be put into a children’s home or placed in a project with street boys. She needs something of her own, a place where she is safe, where she will receive discipline, life training, and the love and acceptance that is needs in order to know that she is someone, a human and not a nobody sleeping in the dirt.

I can’t believe the changes in the girls: Sarah who has been in the home for 7 weeks, Jane, Metrine and Theresa who have been with us for a month and Rebecca, one week. Each one has gained confidence, developed personality and a unique beauty. For some, for the first time in her life, she has a family, people who care for her. The effects of being a family whose needs are met is showing in these girls. They are changing from hardened drug addicts to normal teenage girls, jumping rope, doing their hair and just having fun. The transformation is amazing to watch.

We look forward to bringing you frequent updates on the progress of this project.

The news of two missionaries attached in Kitale is true. The attack happened Wednesday evening in a small farm just on the outskirts of Kitale town. The two were flown the following day to a hospital in Nairobi, the Kenya capital, where they were put in the ICU. They are making a quick recovery. I was in the hospital with them yesterday and they were both in high spirits saying that they were not going to leave Kenya over this but want to return to Kitale after they are recovered. They both stated that they forgive those who have attacked them.

After two hours, I left the hospital, having my own faith challenged. Here are two people who were brutally attacked and left for dead and they have so much faith that God had a purpose for this.

I am now back in Kitale and just got off the phone with a close friend who is staying in the hospital with the couple. He said that John is still in surgery. They are both expected to make a full recovery.

This event was isolated and the offenders have been caught.

As the director of Transformed International, working and living in Kitale, I don’t have any reason to believe that Kitale is any more dangerous than it was before this attack. It is vital that we take personal security measures and we have.

On behalf of the volunteers and staff at TI, we pray for a quick and total recovery for John and Eloise and look forward to welcoming them back to Kitale.

For more information, here is a link.

Missionary describes terrifying ordeal in Kenya

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080710/missionary_recovery_080711/20080711?hub=CTVNewsAt11

The beginning of this week was a difficult one for us here in Kenya. There were moments of sadness, moments of discouragement and perhaps a moment of loneliness.

Over the weekend, four of our girls from our Street Girls Program, decided to go back to the streets. After 20 days of being under a roof with food always in their stomachs and receiving schooling on a daily basis, they chose to return to the cold, dark and dangerous streets.

What these girls are going back to, we can’t comprehend. It’s a life of hunger, glue and prostitution; a life that we wished they would never have to be a part of again. But at the end of the day, the streets are where they chose to be.

It has been difficult for us to accept and move on from. These are some of girls that we have befriended, loved and worked with for almost a year. But although their decision to go to the streets was made, it does not change how we feel about them. We will continue to befriend, love and work with these girls and pray that some day they will choose to leave the streets and receive the help, love and acceptance that people so desperately want to give them.

Since the streets are filled with girls, we know that there are still so many others that are looking for the opportunity. So on Tuesday, we brought three new girls in to the home. These girls are much younger then our previous group and have fit right in to their new setting with Janet, our house mother and Nancy, our teacher.

Our new girls are: Metrine, Jennifer and Theresa. They are so full of energy, laughter and desire for a fresh start. We hope that their new home will do just that: give them a second chance at a new life and in the direction of a bright future.

We look forward to continue sharing their journeys with you.

- Meredith

4,500 children will die today from water related diseases.

In Africa, 2 in 5 children will die before they reach the age of 5.

Of 42,000 deaths each week that occur due to unsafe water, 90% are children under the age of 5.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation causes 80% of all disease related deaths. It kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

Women and children walk more than 3 hours every day to collect water that will make them sick.

Children are the most vulnerable.

Our future is dying before our eyes.


My name is Jocelyn Tarquini and I adopted my son Isaac from Liberia, West Africa in 2007. During his adoption I spent 5 weeks in Liberia working at his orphanage and touring others. Only the most privileged orphanages had clean drinking water. Of the orphanages I saw only 1 had a sealed well that provided water for the 100+ children in their care. The others relied on streams, puddles, rain, and dirty water holes.

I started Redeeming Waters International to help those that are at the most risk. I've worked in orphanages all over the world and have found a common thread. Children are dying. They are dying because they lack the very basic of necessities like clean drinking water. Of the 9.7 million children who died in 2006, 4.8 million hail from sub-Saharan Africa.

NO. You start with one orphanage, you make sure they have clean drinking water and watch their death rate go down. Then you help another and another, and before you know it thousands of children who didn't have a chance before will be living longer, living stronger, and growing into adults who could one day bring forth change.

Redeeming Waters International will be providing TI with much needed filtrations systems for 5 different Homes that don't have a clean water source. Help us save the lives of over 120 children in Kenya.

Today was the Kenya National Day of the African Child. TI has been a part of the planning and preparations for this year’s event, overseen by the District Children’s Department. 6 primary schools and all the children’s homes in the area were invited to this celebration.

The day began with a procession of the children through town ending at the stadium. Once at the stadium, each children homes and schools gave a presentation of a poem, song or short play, followed by a soccer match between the kids and the managers of the homes. Tim, (TI intern) represented Transformed International on the soccer team and was the only white guy on the field.

Elizabeth Nafula, sponsored through TI, was asked to be one of the guests of honor and to give a speech about being a child. Elizabeth is in 9^th grade. She spoke for 10 minutes on the rights and desires of the children. She was congratulated for a job well done as she proved to be an amazing speaker. TI was very proud of her.

The total number of children attending was estimated at 1200. We are looking forward to next year’s celebration of the African child, besides, they are the reason TI is here.

Anne, Meredith and Shayla

The TI Team, Daniel, Elizabeth, Anne, Meredith

Today marks one week since TI took the first group of 6 girls off the streets of Kitale. We went as a team to visit the girls today. The first thing they said was “whenever you come, we want to talk English; we want to learn to talk with you guys.” Throughout the next two hours, they did a good job trying. Nancy, our full time teacher for these girls, translated for them into English and had them repeat after her.

Between Janet, the full time house mother, Nancy and Anne, the TI social worker, these girls are getting much needed attention and counseling. Today each girl had a private counseling session with Anne. The results were great. For many of these girls, this is the first time in their life that someone has accepted them for who they are, not focusing on who they were on the streets, but who they are now.

The TI team has spent the last 9 months or so getting to know these 6 girls, along with a large group of others just like them. We would go and sit behind the market in the ghetto and wait for them to come. At first they didn’t want anything to do with us, but soon, they became out friends. Today as I sat and watched Lillian read English as Nancy helped her struggle through words, I saw for the first time a kid and not a tough girl who was ready to fight the next person who looked at her wrong. She was a kid just like other kids her age. She doesn’t have to worry about people stealing her things or wonder if she will eat that night or sleep hungry, yet again. I was almost brought to tears as I sat back and watched them laugh, their hair done up and wearing new clothes, seemingly not a care in the world other than learning English. What a contrast from who they were just one week ago.

Then I think about the other girls, still on the streets. Will this new model for caring for street girls work? Will it prepare them to one day to care for themselves? I also think about a 16 year old girl I met in the slums this week, Susan. She dropped out of school a few years back and really doesn’t do much anymore. She doesn’t know who her mom is and her father is slowing dieing from AIDS. What fate awaits her? will she end up as a street girl, resorting to prostitution in order to eat food that night? There are so many questions and so few answers, but tonight I rest of the memory of these 6 girls today, so full of joy, so full of life.

--Daniel

The construction on the kitchen at the children’s home is finally finished and just in time for the rainy season. Thanks to the team from California and extra finances from our friends in Montana for the finishing touches.

What’s next for HBF! New house parents beginning in July and a well with a hand pump coming at the end of the year. More updates to come.

Wednesday, June 04, the street girl’s rehabilitation program officially started. Yesterday the TI team spent the day buying everything needed for their new house and setting it up in preparation for the girl’s arrival.

Today, Daniel and Tim (TI intern) went to the home early to assemble bunk beds while Meredith, Anne and Sarah (TI intern) met with the girls and did food shopping.

The girl’s excitement was explosive as they were taken from the streets and introduced to their new house mother and given a tour of their new home. Anne and Meredith talked to the girls about the rules of the house and the expectation of them. They also discussed with the girls what to do if they feel tempted to run back to the streets.

The girls felt at home right away and after eating a lunch of rice, meat and cabbage, they all jumped in to do the dishes. The girls said that they had so much peace knowing that tonight they wouldn’t go to bed hungry or wouldn’t have to resort to prostitution to get money for food. This is a feeling that they haven’t felt in a long time.

TI has hired a full time house mother who will be looking after the daily needs of the girls. TI has also hired a full time teacher who will be teaching the girls at home. Most of the girls have only reached second grade and being teenagers, they can’t be put into normal primary schools. Classes begin on Monday.

TI has been dreaming about this program and this model to care for the street girls for the past 9 months and at last, all the work has lead up to today, the beginning. TI’s goal is to develop a model for caring specifically for street girls, a model that will best meet their needs and give them an increased chance at a successful future.

Now, its time to meet the girls:

From back, left to right

Sarah, 14 years old

Ann, 14, years old

Helena, 16 years old

Lillian, 15 years old

Leah, 17 years old

Keep checking for more updates!

Widows Project

Last week Transformed International took a team to the Soweto slums in Nairobi to begin the much anticipated widows micro business. The team of 7 set out early Tuesday morning to meet with the 7 pre-identified women who are widows and single mothers who have been abandoned by their husband. The women are all under 40 years old and have children in school. Most of these women have been surviving day to day by picking through the local dump, scavenging for scraps that can be sold and old food that can be prepared for their children’s meal that evening. These 7 women no longer have to call the dump their place of work.

Thanks to Bible Fellowship Ministries and HBF Soweto in partnership with Transformed International, these 7 women have their own micro business making a special beaded necklace that has only been produced in neighboring Uganda. With this rare necklace being introduced into Kenya, a ready market is at the fingertips of these women. Some will be sold to local traders in NairobiU.S. and others shipped to the

A local Kenyan and close friend to TI, Robert, took away three days from his own crafts business in Eldoret to impart this skill to these women. The women were not only given the skill of making the necklaces, but also given a short talk on basic business management.

Transformed International has not yet built a reproducible model for micro business, but they are working on it, hoping that this business will be the beginning of many more to come.

HBF Soweto School

Through Transformed International, 150 children in the slums are being fed 5 days a week through the school’s feeding program. For some, this is the only meal they get each day.

As has been reported in recent updates, the price of food has increased drastically. As the TI team met with the school founder, it was learned that the money being sent for the feeding program, based on last years budget, was only feeding the kids for three weeks out of the month. The team worked up a new budget and found that they were short about $150 a month.

The night before, Daniel received an e-mail from a TI board member in the U.S. saying that friends from a church in Battle Mountain, Nevada had decided to do a yard sale for food for Kenya and the amount that they raised was exactly what was needed to fund the extra cost of the feeding program for the rest of the year.

Once again, we were amazed at how the Lord knows the needs befor

e we do and prepares provision. That you to the group in Battle Mountain who took their time to raise money for food.

High Food Prices in Kenya

A report on the Kansascity.com we page outlined the food crises facing Kenya.

The destruction coincided with a worldwide surge in food prices, due in large part to the soaring costs of energy and fertilizer, which have more than doubled in Kenya. Experts are warning that the food crisis could put tens of millions of people in the world's poorest countries at risk of starvation.

The U.N. World Food Program has launched a worldwide appeal for $755 million to stave off an urgent funding shortfall.

Food prices have risen about 30 percent in Kenya. The post-election unrest, combined with inadequate rainfall, shortened this year's planting season. Maize, or corn, the country's staple, is running short, and analysts have warned that national reserves could be exhausted within three months.

"One month we were thinking of what to do with the (grain) surplus, the next month we are thinking of what to do with the deficit," said Romano Kiome, a senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Agriculture accounts for 20 percent of Kenya's economy and employs two-thirds of the country's 36 million people. Kiome fears that diminished tea exports, coupled with rising fuel and transportation costs, will badly weaken the economy. The International Monetary Fund already has revised Kenya's economic growth forecast downward for the year, from 6.5 percent to about 4 percent.

Click on the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/617161.html

I’ve been back in Kenya for a week. I’m so glad to be back, I really missed all the kids. I went to visit almost every project this past week and am happy to report that everyone is doing great.

I am overwhelmed by the rapid rising cost of food in Kenya due to the politically motivated violence earlier this year. The staple food, maize corn, has risen from $15 a sack to $27 a sack in just two months. A sack of beans has gone from $48 a sack to $80. To make things worse, the price of fertilizer has tripled and people can’t afford to plant this year. If they don’t plant and with planting season being almost over, there won’t be new maize and beans come November… a famine will soon follow. I’ve been asking around what will happen if there is no food this coming September. I’m told that food will be shipped in from other countries and it will be expensive.

How can an impoverished country afford to pay double for food? The answer, they can’t. This is already having a major affect on Kenya and it will only get worse.

The price of maize will keep rising. In the next week, we are going to try to track down 60 bags of maize to buy and store so that we can get through the rest of this year and avoid paying double in several months. 60 bags will allow us to feed our main projects for the next 6 months.

Because we have a budget for every project, we are not able to buy as much food because of the rising costs. We have been offsetting some of the extra cost with money that was raised over the past two months.

A team from California spent two weeks this month with Transformed International. They hosted several 4 day long seminars for widows, spent time with the street kids programs and built a kitchen for the HBF children’s home. We are very grateful to this team for all their hard work and for their love for the poor. You left a mark and will be remembered.

One of our orphans was in the hospital for 10 days. He was discharged last week. Tomorrow we will be visiting him at his home where his grandmother cares for him and his siblings. Sadly, he was tested and is HIV positive. We are brought to tears in moments like these. Yes, TI cares for orphans who are HIV positive. We will now begin the journey of learning how to best meet the needs of this child.

We are running diligently trying to find land for the street girl’s program. It is proving to be more and more difficult. We hope to have some leads in the next week so we can move forward.

We spent an afternoon last week with the street girls in town. My heart broke once again for their desperate situation and the urgency in getting them off the streets, away from drugs and prostitution. New girls are showing up weekly. We are devising a short term plan to get several off the streets while we are looking for land.

The Internship program still has several spaces open this year; anytime from next month ending February 2009. Next year we will have two blocks open for interns. April 1^st – June 27^th 2009^st – November 28^th 2009. Each block will be limited to 8 individuals. If you or anyone you know is interested in being a part of this program this year or 2009, please e-mail daniel@transformedinternational.org and September 1

I’ve been overwhelmed and humbled by the newspaper article both in the Reno Gazette Journal and now on the UNR web page.

http://www.unr.edu/nevadanews/detail.aspx?id=2629

Thank you to the writers of these articles for taking your time to write them and for playing a part in bringing more awareness to what is going on in other parts of the world.

Keep checking back every few weeks for more updates.

Daniel only has a few days left in Reno before heading to Canada and back to Kenya. The last month has been full of speaking engagements and TI events. TI was invited to primary schools, UNR, TMCC and several churches. Every event has been a success as Daniel brings a message of cultural awareness and knowing how we are supposed to respond to the poor.

Each place Daniel speaks, Kenyan crafts are sold with 100% of the profit going back into the work in Kenya. In the past month, Several thousand dollars of crafts have been sold.

While Daniel has been in the U.S., Meredith is holding down the fort in Kenya. Right now a team from California is there building a kitchen for the new home for the HBF kids.

The Reno Gazette Journal published an article in today’s paper about Transformed International. Here is the link:

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/SPARKS/804040481

Next week Daniel will be in Canada meeting with the newly formed TI Canada team as well as speaking at several different events.

Last week the 22 orphans at Hope Bright Future children’s home moved into their new house. When they arrived they found new beds, mattresses and storage boxes waiting for them. Irene, one of the 10 year old orphans, said that she never thought she would get to live in a house with glass windows and a house that wasn’t made of mud. The children are thrilled about the new home.

HBF children’s home is funded monthly by Transformed International through the sponsorship of the children living in the home. The construction of the new home was funded mostly by friends from Montana. A special thanks to these friends and KVC church and also to Todd for overseeing the construction of the home and raising funds for this project.

The new home has two dorm style rooms with the capacity to sleep 20 children each. In between the girl’s room and the boy’s room is a huge living/dining area. Attached to the back of this area is a room for the house mother and a storage room. An outdoor kitchen will be constructed in April.

Currently the home has space for an additional 18 children. These spots will be reserved for the most desperate cases where no family members are able to care for the children at their home through the sponsorship program.

A group from Canada, in partnership with Transformed International has begun a feeding program for Hope Bright Future Soweto School in the Soweto slum in Nairobi. The program began in January of this year and provides lunch for almost 100 orphaned children and children from widowed mothers. For some children, this is the only meal they get daily.

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with the children and teachers of the school. This is the first year that they have had a feeding program for the children. The teachers told me that the children have totally changed and some show up an hour early for school because they have been given a new hope.

Today the TI team went to the Matunda village outside of Kiminini market place to distribute food and blankets to displaced families from around the country. The total number of refugees at the camp was 1600, but on the rise daily. Over 1000 of these being children. Most came from the Saboti area where they were chased from their burning homes. The camp is not in the path of the Red Cross and has not received any donations of food in the past three weeks.

The TI team assessed the camp last week and decided to funnel relief funds there. This morning we brought 40 sacks of maiz corn and 200 blankets. There has been rumors of relief food missing or being given out to people who aren’t displaced. We decided that rather than just leaving the food with them, we wanted to make sure each family got what was brought for them. We had a copy of the list of families and called each family one by one to collect their portion. When everyone was told how much they would get, they were overjoyed. It was enough to feed them for up to a week, depending on the size of the family. Also, each family was given a blanket.

The distribution went well. We arrived with the maiz and blankets in two trucks, after unloading, everyone was told to sit down and wait for their name to be called. It was very orderly. The whole event took about three hours.

Thank you to the two groups from Canada who gave funds to feed 182 displaced families. They will eat tonight.

As most of you know, things have not settled down with the political unrest in Kenya. Yet, we push forward knowing that we have been given the task to feed the hungry and care for the orphans and widows. They need us now more than ever.

Crises Response

Thank you all who responded quickly to the need for food in Soweto Slums. Within the first three days we had been sent over $1500, more came in later and will be used this week for a food distribution in a local refugee camp of displaced families. There is still a need for food relief. If you are interested in sending funds for food for the displaced families, please send a check to the TI U.S. or Canada post office box and write “Food Relief” in the memo line. DO NOT send checks to the Kenya P.O. box.

Meredith in Canada

TI’s sponsorship coordinator, Meredith Lopez, is in Canada for the month. She will be meeting with our Canada team as well as speaking in several places promoting awareness of the third world. Last week Meredith was interviewed by the Windsor Star, click on the title to read the article.

Kenya Calls Local Woman

Orphans in Need of Sponsor

6 new orphans have been added to the web page. Click on “sponsor a child” link to read their stories.

HBF Children’s Home

The construction of the new HBF children’s home in Kiminini is just about finished. The children are planning to move in this coming weekend. A special thanks to the KVC Church in Montana for funding this project. Also thanks to Todd for all his hard work in overseeing the construction.

Pen Palls

We have started to receive letters and packages for the pen pall program. Just a reminder, please do not put the child’s name on the letter of package. Address them to “Transformed International” then put the child’s name on the letters inside.

We are still working on the logistics of this program. Please give us a few months before looking for your letters in the mail.

Daniel in U.S./Canada

I will be in North America beginning March 2^nd. I have a very tight speaking schedule; however I have some dates still open. I you would like me to speak, please e-mail faith@transformedinternational.org. A schedule of where and when I am speaking will be on the update section of the web page next week.

All Orphans Sponsored

As of January 1^st, all the orphans on the web page have been sponsored. Right now we are in the process of putting up the next group of orphans. We went this weekend to put together profiles of six new orphans (pictured). All of these children are siblings. They range from 1 to 8 years old. They are living with their grandparents in a hut in the picture. This family lives in a village outside of Kiminini. They will be supported at the home with the grandparents. Check the “Sponsor a Child” link to see the profiles of these children.

Construction Progress

The new children’s home in Kiminini is almost done. Window, doors, and walls are finished. All that remains is finishing of the floors and painting. The home should be finished by the end of the month.

TI Kenya team in U.S. and Canada

Meredith will be in Ontario, Canada January 26^th to February 25^th. Her speaking schedule will be posted in a few weeks. If you would like her to speak send her an e-mail at Meredith@transformedinternational.org

Daniel will be in Dallas, Texas March 2^nd to 6^th, Reno, Nevada March 6^th to April 8^th, and Newmarket, Ontario Canada April 9^th to 14^th. His speaking schedule is quickly filling up. If you would like him to speak, send him an e-mail at Daniel@transformedinternational.org.

Transformed International currently has three full time North American Staff and Two North American interns in Kitale, Kenya. Despite the current state of political unrest, we are safe and doing well. The members of this team are registered with the U.S. and Canadian Embassy and will be notified in case of any new developments.

Transformed International as an NGO in Kenya remains neutral in regards to political issues. However, we do not condone any violence that is currently taking place.

As the director of TI, I acknowledge that the first priority of TI Kenya is to ensure the safety of our foreign staff and interns and second, to ensure that food continues to be delivered to the children who are sponsored under TI.

For daily reports on the TI team and projects during this crisis, visit www.dlipparelli.blogspot.com

Regards,

Daniel Lipparelli
Transformed International Director

Thank you all who have been praying for the TI Kenya team. Things are not good here. I've been posting updates on my personal blog. If you would like more news please go to www.dlipparelli.blogspot.com. I will continue to post new blogs daily if possible.

Thank you,

Daniel Lipparelli

On December 24^th, TI had its first (hopefully to be Annual) Christmas party. The party was attended by about 85 orphan children sponsored through TI and 15 adults who are working directly with these children. The major groups included the children from Hope Bright Future Children’s Home (Kiminini), Kids of the Kingdom Children’s Home (Soy Project), Milimani projects and several children sponsored at their homes.

The cooking crew headed by TI’s staff social worker Anne, began their work at 8:00am. They stayed focused for 5 hours straight as they prepared a feast for over 100 people. The meal consisted of 50 pounds of meat, japati (Kenyan flat bread), rice, cabbage, potatoes and a fruit salad so big it only fit in a washing basin.

The party began at noon with the arrival of the different groups. Some coming on foot and others in rented vans. Upon arrival each child was served a cup of juice and taken to the yard where a newly refurbished tree house, swings, teeter-totter, volley ball court and other things waited for them. Most of them had never seen such things before. They were thrilled! At 1:30pm the organized games began. The games included a sack race, three legged race, tug war and jump-roping. The games were a riot as most of the kids had never played some of our traditional American games.

Next came the feast. All the children lined up as the TI team served them their food. They ate and ate and ate. After food we gathered for a group picture followed by songs and dances by the different groups. The party ended around 4:00pm. On their way out, each child received a gift bag with school supplies, candy, nail polish for the girls and playing cards for the boys.

A special thanks to Newmarket Alliance Church in Canada who funded this party. Thanks to the whole TI team who made a 100 person party go off without a hitch. Also, Todd and Yancy for building a tree house that withstood the test and trying to make a zipline, Amanda, Timo, Faith and Aly for painting the tree house last minute (despite fears of height), Meredith who shopped till she dropped and put together some amazing gift bags, Jared who helped serve juice, washed hands, helped clean up the tree house mess and served a mean volley ball. Also the extra cooking crew, Meredith, Faith, Amanda and Aly.

We hope that the TI Christmas party will become an annual event.

Street Girls Program

The search for land for the street girls program has begun. I went out last week to look for land and found several plots. The whole team went last Saturday to look at one that at first glance seemed perfect. But as we walked the land and prayed, we didn’t feel peace about it. We will keep looking. I am hoping that we will be able to find something within the next few weeks so we can begin construction the first week of January.

HBF Children’s Home

The construction is continuing at the children’s home in Kiminini. Two weeks ago, Todd put in the floors. All that remains are the finishing of the floors, plastering of the walls and doors and windows. The goal is to have the house finished and the children moved in before Christmas.

Sponsorship Program

Only two children remain on the web page to be sponsored. Honestly, I sit in wonder when I scroll down the page and see all the children who are sponsored, 102 now. We are preparing the next group of kids to be put on the web page.

Christmas in Kenya

There will be 6 of us North Americans from TI who will be staying in Kenya for Christmas this year. We decided to have a big party at our house for some of the kids in the program. We started small, but NAC church from Newmarket in Canada said that they would sponsor this party. We gave them a budget to feed 100 people, they announced it in church on a Sunday and on that same Sunday people donated twice the amount that we budgeted. We decided to expand the guest list and buy gifts for all the children. The party will be the day before Christmas.

Labels: group update

Two months ago ago, Meredith, Jessica and I decided to go to the second story back balcony of a building that overlooks one of the slums in Kitale. After standing there for only a few minutes we saw several street girls. One was about 12 year old, glue bottle in her mouth, bouncing on some tires. She was so intoxicated that the world around her moved by without her even noticing. In the distance was a second street girl who I would say was about 15. She too had a glue bottle in her mouth breathing in the toxic fumes seemingly forgetting about the 5 month old baby on her back. No doubt that it was her own child, born on the street, a second generation street girl. As I stood there for an hour, I was moved by the desperation of these girls. Knowing statistically they would not live many more years. The girls sell themselves as prostitutes as young as 10 years old in order to get money for food, sometimes for as little as 10 cents. Most girls contract an STD and many get, and die from AIDS.

Since seeing these girls, it has been so heavy on our hearts to start a program for them. I know that this was not an original objective for TI, but sometimes God moves us to do something that was out of our plan. Up to date, no one in this area is doing a project for the desperate street girls. The TI Kenya team goes every Thursday afternoon to the back of the Nyio Market where the street girls pass. In the past months, we have become friends with a number of these girls, slowly building their trust.

The Transformed International team plans to work closely with existing street children programs and the District Children’s Officer in order to identify the girls who:

a. Are most at risk

b. Are most likely to succeed in the program

c. Have a willingness to change their lifestyle

This project would take each girl through four steps of the program:

· Step 1: the TI team will build relationships with the girls on the streets and in working with other street kids programs and the DCO, identifies those who are most likely to excel in the program. The TI team will also build files by gathering documents and case history of each girl.

· Step 2 (Phase one): a pre-identified street girl, with the permission of the DCO, will be taken to the rehab house. The house will be located in a village outside of town, thus taking the girls away from the temptations of the streets. The rehab house will have a capacity of 6 girls at a time and one trained house mother. The house will be located on a one acre plot of land which will have a house, outdoor pit latrines, kitchen, pen for chickens and a small garden. The girls will spend their morning being tutored by a part time teacher. Afternoons will be spent being trained in tailoring by a professional tailor. Weekends will be spent in the garden and doing crafts and bead work. This phase will last 6 months to one year depending on how long it takes each girl to detox from the glue and be secure enough not to return to the streets.

· Step 3 (Phase two): Those who successfully complete phase one will be taken to a two year trade school where they will learn a trade of their choice. They will school during the day. In the evenings, all the girls will return to a rental house in the area of the school. The house will have a trained house mother who will give guidance to the girls and monitor them to insure they are not spending time on the streets.

· Step 4 (Phase three): Those who successfully complete phase two will be relocated to a different town in Kenya where TI will help them start a new life, rent a house and get a job in the trade they trained in, resulting in self sufficiency.

The goal of this project is to save one girl at a time, taking her from a life of desperation to a life of self-worth and self sustainability. This project focuses on no more than 6 girls in each phase at a time because we recognize the importance that each girl gets the most effective care through a smaller ratio. This also increases the chances of success in the project and in the lives of the girls.

Two weeks ago, the TI team shared this vision with a group from Canada. The group was moved by the desperation of the situation and after a few days, approached the TI team and said they would like back TI in this project. This means buying land, building a house and getting the project started.

Right now the TI team is in the process is looking for an ideal peace of land to begin this project. The team has also put together a task force team comprising of people from different street kids programs. The first meeting will take place in two weeks.

We have set a goal for May 1^st to open the home and begin the project.

What we need from you:

We need prayer, that the Lord will allow the TI team to continue to build relationships with the street girls and to identify the girls who will be best in this program and that we will find the ideal plot of land for this project.

This would be truly a rescue mission because most of these girls won’t live to be adults, unless there is drastic intervention. If we can change the life of one girl, it is worth the resources used to do so.

If you have questions or want to know how to be further involved, please e-mail deniel@transformedinternational.org

Labels: group update

Six Kohl's employees volunteered to help unpack the latest shipment of crafts sent to the United States. Three hours later (a total of 18 service hours donated) and all the crafts were unpacked,tagged, priced and sorted. Along with their generosity, they added a check for $500.00 with a promise to return for every future shipment.

Thank you Kohl's!

Labels: group update

On October 23, 2007 Transformed International in conjunction with Team Tumaini from Canada, distributed over 25,000 pounds of food to widows, orphans and those in need.

About two months ago, Sandy Foster, the leader of Team Tumaini, contacted TI asking if we would be willing to organize a “small” event of distributing food for some needy families. With the original budget that was given, we had planned to identify a few families and bring food to them. But as Sandy kept sending more e-mails saying that more money had come in, it soon became clear that this was not going to be a small event and more than just few families would be receiving food. The end result was 43 sacks of beans and 82 sacks of maize corn given to over 100 families, giving each family food to last them 2 months. Just a random fact, 125 sacks of food equals over 25,000 pounds!

The event started last Saturday where all the food had to be packed into smaller sacks and then each sack labeled with the name of a pre-identified family. Each sack was filled according to the size of the family. The TI, Africa Connect and Tumaini team spent 7 hours that day to complete the heavy task.

On Tuesday the 23, the team eagerly waited by the gate for the lorry truck to arrive to take food to the first location. The sacks were loaded in the back of the truck along with the team who sat on the sacks. The first location, Maili Saba (the 7^th mile) was a 10 minute drive away. About half way there the truck broke down forcing us to call a smaller truck which would have to take 4 trips to carry the food.

Even though only two miles away, it took an hour to unload and reload. We arrived at a church full of waiting individuals. After a few speeches by the District Children’s Officer and a local pastor, the distribution was underway. Each family was called one by one to receive their sack of maize, sack of beans and blankets. The joy that filled the room was overwhelming as some of the women cried, saying “thank you, thank you.”

After receiving their food, each family was prayed for.

Then set in the task of each family carrying their food home. Some distributed to smaller sacks and put their food on their heads, some rushed home to get a wheelbarrow and others called bicycle taxis.

After the first location, the team took a lunch break and then headed to the second location, Shimo La Tawa primary school. Shimo is based in a forgotten slum where alcoholism runs rampant.

The day was a huge success and the joy seen can’t be described. Each family was so blessed.

The TI team thanks Team Tumaini from Canada and all the people who donated to make this event happen.

Labels: group update

October 14, 2007


- Pictured are some of the HBF kids at the new home with Jared, Eva Joy and Amanda -

It seems like yesterday I couldn’t believe that September was over and now here we are half way through October. The TI Kenya staff is getting ready for two teams coming this month. The first team is from Canada. They will be funding a one day food distribution through TI that is going to reach over 100 families. This event will take place on the 23^rd of this month. Watch for news.

Todd is back and moving quickly with the construction of the Hope Bright Future Children’s Home in Kiminini. This week he is putting in floors and getting ready to finish with the doors and windows. This past Saturday we took the children to the new home. They ran through the rooms like kids on Christmas morning, all pointing out where their bed will be when they move in.

TI now has a monthly e-newsletter. If you would like to receive news from TI send an e-mail to news@transformedinternational.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line. We will be sending out a newsletter each month and sending out other news and updates on new children and projects.

Labels: group update

This has been an exciting week of events for Transformed International. I am amazed at God’s provision and favor.

501c3

TI received a letter from the IRS this week saying that our application for 501c3 tax exempt status has been approved and TI is now officially a tax exempt Non-Profit Organization. This means so many new open doors for TI. TI will also be able to give yearly tax receipts to those who give monthly to support the work in Kenya.

Thank you to everyone in Reno who worked for countless hours on the application.

Silver & Blue

TI received some publicity in the fall addition of the University of Nevada, Reno’s Silver and Blue Alumni magazine. See picture below. I am excited to see what doors will be open through this small article.

Bungoma Widows Project

The TI Kenya social worker did a surprise visit to our widows in Bungoma where TI has started two micro businesses for two widows. Both widows are progressing with their businesses. They originally planned to be selling second hand clothes but when they went to get the clothes; they found them to be too expensive compared to the money that was given to them by TI. One widow went to the lake and got sacks of minnow. She then brought them back to her market place and has been selling them there, after three weeks she had already made a profit. The second widow decided to buy sacks of corn and re-sell in smaller quantities. She hopes to save enough money to buy a cow and then be selling the milk daily. Yes, one can make a good profit from a milk cow.

New Crafts to Reno

A shipment of crafts will be going out this week and be in Reno within two weeks. Check out the new section on the web page to see what TI is selling. The profit from these sails is what allows TI Kenya to run from day to day.

Keep checking for new updates and news from TI.

Labels: group update

The Transformed International Kenya team is becoming more and more involved in working with the Street Kids of Kitale. God has been putting on our hearts a ministry for the street girls, but more on that later.

About 6 months ago a feeding program was started weekly for the street kids. The program was being held in the middle of town where it was chaotic and unmanageable. It was later moved to the local youth church (Fire Place). Since it was moved 4 months ago, the number has steadily increased to about 70 street boys and girls. During this weekly program these children play soccer, hear a short message from the Bible and eat a meal, all the while building relationships with people such as the TI team.

The street kids are a mystery as many of them have homes, parents or are taken into a children’s home, clothed, fed and taken to school… yet most of them return to the streets where they sleep outside shops in a potato sack, sniffing shoe glue to numb their mind of the pain, hunger and the cold of the night. Many of these children, as young as 8, are addicted to sniffing shoe glue, killing their brain cells with every sniff.

The current population of street children in the small town of Kitale is 1200. These are children between 8 and 17 years old. One may wonder how they survive. They live from day to day by begging for money, stilling, and rummaging through trash cans. And the girls, the girls survive by selling themselves into prostitution for as little as 10 cents. This lifestyle of the young girls contributes to the rapid spread of AIDs and a second generation of street babies being born in the cold night on that same potato sack.

One of the local street kid programs “Oasis of Hope” is making the biggest difference in this area. Three years ago they started a day drop in center where street children can come get two meals a day and attend school from 9:00am to 2:00pm Monday to Friday. From this program, they evaluate the children who would come every day and who gave up their glue (glue is not allowed in the school). Out of these kids, Oasis has started several group homes where many of the now ex street children are living and attending school. About 70 children on average come to the drop in center daily. Out of all the program’s I’ve seen for street children, Oasis is making the biggest difference. Yet, this one program can’t reach the whole population of street children in Kitale.

A documentary on the street boys in Kitale came out this year called Glue Boys. The DVD is purposed to expose the truth and reality of the children living on the streets. It is to educate the American culture of the harsh reality of little children living on the streets. As we climb into our warm beds, in our big house after eating a large meal, there are helpless children digging in trash cans and curling up on the dirt ground at night to sleep.

My heart hurts for these children. Despite the many programs in this area, the population seems to be increasing. As we walk the streets of Kitale during the day, many, if not most, of the children know us by name. They don’t ask us for food any more because they know we won’t give it to them. When a new kid comes to the streets and asks for food, we directed them to one of the street kids programs in the area. Most don’t want to go because it means structure and giving up their glue. The kids who know us will call greet us and then in Swahili, they will ask how our day is and where we are going. After a short conversation, they say “bye” and return to begging for money.

This past Thursday the TI team sat on the cement steps behind the Niyo Market where the “tough” street kids hang out. I’ve had a lot of trouble in the past in this place with mobs of street kids and men gathering around us, creating a dangerous situation. But this week I felt that we as a team needed to sit there, not offering anything other then conversation. As we sat down and the kids began to notice us, I was plotting an escape route in case things got out of hand. But they didn’t. The kids came over and about half of them knew us. When they asked me what we were doing there, I told them we had come just to greet them and for no other reason. Many thanked us for coming. The shopkeepers watched from a distance, very skeptical of what these white people were doing there. In our hour of sitting behind the Niyo market, 4 street girls emerged from the crowd and were willing to sit and talk with us. After an hour, we gathered up those who wanted food and walked with them to the feeding program. As we passed through the main street of town, people stopped to see these 5 white people with a trail of street kids beside and behind us. We gathered more as we walked, calling them by their name. Some didn’t want to come with us because it meant losing out on time to beg for money. By the time we reached the feeding program we had 25 kids with us. We met there with an additional 50 street kids.

During the feeding program, the kids don’t have to beg because they are getting food. And for a short moment, they become something more then a street kid. They because a real person, with a real personality. Their shame seems to fade away as they chase a soccer ball around the yard laughing a playing. For that hour, they can forget about survival and just be a kid.

After the feeding program is over, the children slowly leave, one or two at a time. As the sun sets, they prepare for another cold night sleeping on the street, hoping and praying that they will wake up the next morning.

My heart has a deep ache for the street kids. After being here for three years, I still don’t know exactly what the solution is. Most of the children don’t want to change, and change can’t be forced upon them. TI wants to team up with the local feeding program and with Oasis of Hope to take one more child off the street. We sat with Lydia (Oasis of Hope founder) and Geoffrey (Oasis of Hope Director) in our home a few weeks ago contemplating this crisis, a bit discouraged. But I reminded everyone that if we can save just one child from the streets, one child from destroying their mind with glue, put that one child in a warm bed at night, educating that child, then we have made a difference. Rather then focusing on the 1200 children, we need to focus on one at a time. Because once we get that one, then we can get another and another and another…

The TI Kenya team and the TI board members are praying about the possibility of starting a program for the street kids. But we don’t want to start it without first committing it to prayer, seeking the will of God.

For more info on the street kids in Kitale visit:

www.GlueBoys.com

www.myspace.com/glueboys

www.myspace.com/oasisofhope

Labels: group update

Read the intern’s blogs and see more pictures of our trip to Turkana:

Amanda’s www.amandagoble.blogspot.com

Kate’s www.kenyankrusade.blogspot.com

Jared from Canada will be joining the TI internship program at the end of this month.

Last month marked our second updates to all the sponsors on the children they are sponsoring. Through the individual and group sponsorship program, TI is now supporting 100 orphan children monthly. I can’t say thank you enough to all the people who are giving monthly to change a life of an orphan. I only wish all of you could be here to see the joy of the faces of these children. There are still orphans on the web page who are waiting to be sponsored.

There is a new addition to the web page about the home parties in the Reno area! The home parties with the Kenyan crafts are how the monthly administrative costs of TI are covered. Also, when we see a need as a team in Kenya, the money from sales is what is used to meet that need. This year we put two orphans through high school, started two widows businesses, bought 16 beds for orphans, and so much more, all through the home parties. Every cent of profit comes back here to run TI monthly, put children through school and to start widows businesses. A new shipment of crafts is scheduled to arrive in Reno at the end of the month.

TI has some new and exciting things coming up. Keep checking the web page for new updates and please keep TI and our team in Kenya in your prayers… we need them.

Labels: group update

The TI team did a second round of check ups this week with Katerina from Lover Mercy. This time visiting TI’s Meru Farm project, where a 90 year old grandmother is caring for her 35 orphaned grandchildren. The state of these children were much worse than the others from last weeks checkups. Many of the children had skin infections, malaria and asthma among other problems including permanent ear and bone damage.

The children and grandmother were very grateful to Katerina and the TI team for the medication and medical attention they received. At each project each child’s weight and height were taken so their growth can be measured. Katerina would like to be checking on all the TI children several times a year.

The orphan’s health is a high priority to Transformed International. The monthly sponsorship of a child for $30 not only provides food and education, but assures that the child gets proper medical care when needed.

Labels: group update, orphans

On Tuesday, August 7^th orphans sponsored through Transformed International got medical checkups. Thanks to Katerina Mathioudakis the Medical Relief Coordinator for Love Mercy, we were able to visit several of TI’s projects where the orphans got medical check ups and medication. Katerina, from the U.S., comes to Africa several times to year traveling to Kenya, Uganda and Sudan to provide medical checkups and free medication to orphans, widows and the sick.

The children at HBF children’s home and the Soy Orphans Project let out a sigh of relief when Katerina told them that she was a doctor but that she wasn’t going to give any shots. Katerina’s exams were very non intrusive and the kids warmed up to her quickly. During her examinations she found that some children had very serous infections but in most cases, after rummaging through one of the three huge boxes of medication, she was able to produce what they needed.

Despite the car breaking down several times, running out of brake fluid, and the removal of one set of brake pads along the side of the road, we made it and the kids got much needed medical attention. Thank you Katerina and Love Mercy.

To find out more about Love Mercy, visit www.lovemercy.com

Labels: group update

Today Meredith and I were on our way back from the children’s home in Kiminini, stuffed like sardines in a matatue, as usual. About half way home, we neared a police check point. Very common, however, today they were stopping every vehicle and rather then the normal 4 police manning the check, there were about 20 men, many wearing built proof vests. As we neared, they signaled for the matatu to pull over. We did. Then one of the men carrying an M16 opened the side sliding door and in Swahili, demanded all the men to get out. I didn’t know what was going on until a lady next to me told me that they wanted all men to get out. So I followed the rest of the guys exiting the matatu. After getting out, they individually searched each on of us as if we were being arrested. They did the full check starting from the ankles up patting down everywhere. They even went through my bag. After not finding anything, they told us to get back in. We sat there for a few more minutes before they told the driver he could go. I later found out that they were checking for guns because of the tribal clashes on our neighboring MT. Elgon. Sometimes I forget I am in Kenya, until moments like this one.

Labels: Only in Africa

Today I got my first water bill for the new house. I was shocked to find out that it was 30 shillings (about 35 cents U.S.). One would think that I would be thrilled with the low bill, but you have to first understand the monthly process for paying the water bill. First I have to go to the Co-Operative Bank of Kenya and stand in a line that could easily take an hour to reach the front. In Kenyan lines, there is no such thing is personal space. I can’t wear my sandals because people step on my heals and toes. No joke, as if I’m not even there. I can’t tell you how many fights I’ve almost stated in bank lines. The best trick, I’ve found, is to carry a short umbrella and hold it is such a way that when the guy standing behind me decides to rapidly invade my personal space, he is reminded of that day in first grade when the girls figured out where to kick him. Not to get side tracked, or forget my umbrella tomorrow, in order to pay my bill, I have to stand in this horrible line.

Once I pay my 35 cents, that’s right, 35 cents, I then take my bank slip and walk a good 20 minutes to the water co. where I will wait in yet another line (that is if they aren’t out to lunch for three hours) to show them my bank slip and receive my official receipt and be credited that I have paid my water bill.

Why, you may be asking, don’t I just wait until next month to add my 35 cents bill to the next one and save a trip. The answer in found in the fine print on my bill that says “Please pay your bill before August 8^th to avoid Disconnection.” Would they really disconnect my water over a late bill of 35 cents? You bet, and then I would have to pay $10 to get them to come out and reconnect my water.

So thank you Nzoia Water Services for making me spend a good half of my day in lines for a 35 cent bill. This is Kenya my friends, this is Kenya.

Labels: Only in Africa

Transformed International would like to join hands with a partner ministry Hope Bright Future Soweto (HBFS) Nairobi and Bible Fellowship Ministries (BFM).

HBFS Primary School

Soweto slum is situated 15 kilometers east of the city of Nairobi. According to the Government census 2 years ago, the population was about 200,000 inhabitants who live in utter poverty with lack of food, good shelter, clothes and good health. The life is an uphill task. There is a high rate of illiteracy and unemployment. There is no infrastructure for schools and social amenities in the slum. Crime, such as robbery, theft, prostitution, drunkenness and drug abuse are on the rise. Eighteen percent of people living in the sums have AIDS.

Bible Fellowship Ministries, a community based religious organization lead by Bishop Victor Wafula and his wife Mary, have established a school program for orphans, children with single parents and those from extremely poor families. The children range from 3 to 10 years old. This year the school has classes ranging from baby class to 3^rd grade with over 100 children. The vision of the school is to lead the children throughout primary and high school education and up to institutions of higher learning.

Late last year Safaricom (cell phone service provider in Kenya) bought all the children new uniforms, text books and established a feeding program to provide lunch daily for the children in the school. With this support, Victor and his wife have been left only with a small burden of paying the teachers salaries. The 5 teachers and 1 school manager make roughly $100 a month each. The total cost for the salaries monthly are 45,000/= ($675 U.S.).

In most cases, people only want to support children directly and when it comes to paying workers, supporters seem to shy away. However, it is important to realize that without adults in the lives of the orphaned and children of widowed mothers, the child will not succeed in life. And the value of a teacher is immeasurable.

Hope For the Nations Kenya (NGO) has committed to giving 30,000/= Kenyan shillings a month towards the teacher’s salaries. We would like to come in as Transformed International and commit to the remaining 15,000/= a month ($230 U.S.) for the salaries.

If you would be willing to make a one year commitment to making a small (or large) monthly donation tours a slum child’s education, please e-mail support@transformedinternational.org

If you are a teacher or know a group of teachers who would be willing support the salaries of these teachers reaching the slum children in Kenya, please send us an e-mail.

HBFS Children’s Home

Although Transformed International’s main focus is not on children’s homes but rather on community based support, we recognize that not all children have family who are able to care for them, especially those living in the slums of Soweto.

Bible Fellowship Ministries (BFM) last year raised the money to buy a small housing complex in Soweto Slums. Their hope was to use the housing to accommodate slum orphans. For the past year, that complex has sat empty. Transformed International has been given the opportunity to team up with BFM to begin supporting orphan children in Soweto slums. BFM management will oversee the operation of the project and TI would like to sponsor the children. TI has agreed with BFM that we would like to bring in 4 children to begin the project.

These are children who may be eating a meal once every few days, sleeping on dirt floors in rat infested homes. Children who may be abused, neglected or even involved in child labor or worse, child trafficking, as many young girls who are raised in the slums are forced to engage in prostitution as young as 8 years old in order to get money for food.

What is needed to get started?

· 2 sets up bunk beds $100 U.S.D.

· 4 mattresses $50 U.S.D.

· 4 blankets $20 U.S.D.

· 4 sets of sheets $15 U.S.D.

· Plates, cups, cooking supplies $25 U.S.D.

· 4 people to commit to sponsoring 4 children monthly at $30 U.S.D. a month.

If you would like to assist in any of the above areas, please e-mail support@transformedinternational.org and you could be a part of changing a child’s life forever.

Imagine being an African woman with 8 children, trying to make ends meet by living on the average Kenyan wage of $1 a day. Up by 4:00am building a fire to make tea for the kids. While the fire is gaining some momentum, she rushes to a neighbor’s house to buy some fresh milk. By 5:30am she pulls the kids out of bed, bathes them, gives them a cup of tea (no bread because she can’t afford it) then by 6:30 she sends them off to school. They have to leave so early because of the two mile walk and if they are there a minute past 8:00, they will be beaten and sent back home. After the kids leave for school, the African woman washes some clothes (by hand) then sets out walking from garden to garden looking for work, weeding, digging, anything that will bring that $1 so she can buy a meager amount of corn maize and vegetables so the kids don’t have to go to bed hungry like they did last night.

After a long days work digging, she gets a few shillings, enough to give the kids something for dinner. She arrives home at 7:00pm to find a small pile of wood the children collected on their way home from school. She builds the fire and cooks the food. By 9:00pm serves the children dinner. After the meal is finished, she washed the dishes and by 11:30pm, climbs into bed, exhausted, discouraged, hopeless. The only thing keeping her going is knowing that her children can’t survive without her. As she drifts to sleep, she dreams of the days when her husband was alive, when she didn’t worry about the 8 mouth’s to feed, when she enjoyed cooking for her family, when life wasn’t such a burden.

The story of the African widow is all to common. Everywhere I look, everywhere I go, I see her, struggling for her life and for the lives of her children. In most cases, as she was home caring for the children and preparing food for her husband, he was with another woman, unknowingly contracting HIV, leading to his death and leaving the poor African widow all alone with nothing…

My heart, my desire is not only for the orphans, but for the widows who are equally a victim of AIDS and poverty. This last week I went to visit Colleta and Eunice, two widows left with 5 and 8 children after their husbands past away. As I sat with them and told them that they have been chosen for our widows program, tears welled up in their eyes. These are two women who have been struggling for years, living the same story of the African widow, faced with one hardship after the other. These are also two women who know how to work and can make a micro business successful. I asked them what kind of business they could do and they both said that they want to sell second hand clothes in their local market. We discussed a working plan and put some number down. As we figured out all the costs, it came out that they need $45 U.S. each to start their business, a business that will provide for the needs of their family. I will go back in two weeks to train them in book keeping and basic business skills and will also bring the money they need to get started. From there, I will visit every 6 weeks to check up and help out. I don’t want to make the mistake many people have in the past of giving money and leaving all together, leaving the widow to fail. I want to be there with them, to see them struggled out of the hole of poverty.

As we finished our meeting in their small mud house, a since of pride came over them as they now had purpose and hope. A hope of being someone, something… other then the poor African women.

(Colleta left and Eunice right)

Labels: group update, Only in Africa

When Juma was a young boy, he was helped by a lady who took him through first grade all the way to his last day of college. He too wanted to help children like he once was. He and his wife took the first orphan into their home in 1999.

Juma and his wife have 6 children of their own ranging from 5 years old to 18. Two of them are in secondary school. In addition to hisown children, Juma cares for 9 orphans, many being former street boys. When looking at the orphans and his own children, one could not tell the difference. He and his wife are the parents to all of them.

Grass Roots ministry from Canada has been assisting Juma and his wife by establishing a micro business to support the children. They also have been sending monthly support to offset the large burden carried by this family to feed the children.

Transformed International has joined with Grass Roots and Juma and his wife to better meet the needs of the orphans. TI will be funneling finances for Grass Roots to the project and also offering assistance and support to Juma.

Labels: group update

On July 1^st, the TI team moved into their new headquarters, a 2 acre compound containing two houses, offices and a 1 acre garden located in the heart of Milimani Kitale. Now the Kenya team will begin the third program of TI, the Internship Program. With enough space, TI will be able to have 6 interns at a time and also will be able to host short term teams having up to 15 members. The compound contains two houses, the TI Girls house and the “Man’s Shack.” Guys and girls will have their own houses with a common cooking and eating area. Also, on the same compound is an office block were TI will conduct all their office work, interviews and meetings.

The monthly rent and staff is covered by the Internship Program as well as personal funds from the TI Kenya team. No money given as donations for TI or from the sales of goods in the U.S. is used for the rent or house staff.

The Internship Program will officially start on August 8^th. You can find out more about this program on the TI web page. If you are interested in bringing a team for a short term trip, please contact Daniel Lipparelli at daniel@transformedinternational.org.

Labels: group update

Martin and Ruth took the first orphan child into their home in 1998. Ruth was working in the community and came across many women with AIDS. Their dying wish was for Ruth to care for their soon to be orphaned children. Martin and Ruth began caring for these children with their own resources. They felt that is was their Biblical mandate. “We have faced many hardships over the years,” Martin said, “but we have seen the hand of God upon these children.” Today they continue to be community workers. They live on a small plot of land with three houses and kitchen made of mud. Living in these houses are Martin and Ruth, their own children and 23 other children. What makes Martin and Ruth unique is their willingness to care for children with disabilities. Living in their home are two mentally handicap children and two deaf children. Out of the 23 children, 18 are total orphans and others are abandoned or their mother’s are not able to care for them. Several children are HIV positive. The youngest child is one year nine months and the oldest is 16 years old.

Martin and Ruth have an abundance of faith. When there is a needy case, they are not quick to turn the child away. “We know that God will provide for all the needs of these children even if we can’t see the food today, it will be enough tomorrow.” Martin said.

Grass Roots ministry from Canada has been assisting Martin and Ruth with establishing a micro business to support the children. They also have been sending monthly support to offset the large burden carried by this family to feed all the children.

Transformed International has joined with Grass Roots and Martin and Ruth to better meet the needs of the orphans. TI will be funneling finances for Grass Roots to the project and also offering assistance and support to Martin and Ruth.

The Soy Project is in the process of becoming a registered children’s home.

Labels: group update

The roof of the new home for the children at Hope Bright Future Children’s Home is just about finished. Todd left for the U.S. last week to finish raising the funds needed to finish the new house. All that is left is cementing the floor, putting in windows and doors, painting and building a very small kitchen. The children at HBF are doing great. They have one more month for this term at school before having a month off in August. There are still several children from HBF who are waiting to be sponsored. If you are interested, check out the sponsorship section of the web page to read more about their stories. Two more kids were added to the web page last week.

Labels: group update

Many of you didn’t know me when I first came to Kenya and lived in a mud hut with a grass thatched roof in a small village where we didn’t have running water or electricity.

The past weekend I went to my old home and spent some time with the kids. It was great to see them again and to visit the village life. I miss it. I miss the bathing process of walking down the hill to the well, pulling buckets of water out, carrying it back up the hill, building a fire, heating up the water and finally an hour later, splashing the water on myself out of a bucket to wash the days sweat away. I also miss waking up to the sound of roosters and cows. I miss the laid back lifestyle where nothing really matters that much. I miss leisure afternoon walks to the river and stopping for a hot soda on the way.

I am so blessed to be able to go and visit the children and the village where my adventures in Kenya started, the place that captured my heart and made Kenya home.

For those of you who didn’t know me back then, this is a picture of my mud hut with a grass thatched roof. When I first came to Kenya, I lived in an old hut that was the falling apart and was more a home to the bugs and spider than the people who slept inside. In December 2004 I built this one. Well, I didn’t do it all, but I had my hand in it and designed it to be a “modern” mud hut, if there is such a thing. I learned to mud the walls and thatch the roof… and all the other unseen things that it takes to construct such a hut.

Labels: Only in Africa

Today the 90 year old grandmother and her 35 orphaned grandchildren at our Meru Farm project got chickens. That's right, chickens, 39 of them.

In February of this year, I got an e-mail from some friends in Canada who wanted to do something small here in Kenya. I told them about the grandmother and her grandchildren. They then came up with the idea to start a chicken project for them. It works like this; the family will keep the original amount of chickens. Then when they lay eggs and have chicks, half will be used for food for the family and the other half sold to provide a small income, a micro business. The money sent was enough to by building supplies to renovate a small shack's floor into a chicken cook and to buy 39 chickens.

On behalf of the 35 orphans and their 90 year old grandmother, thank you to our friends in Canada who donated this money.

Labels: group update

Friday last week, Meredith, Cordi (a girl from Germany) and I went up to Turkana for the weekend. Turkana is located in Northern Kenya and is all desert. The Turkanen people are traditional nomads. Going to Turkana is like stepping into the pages of National Geographic Magazine. We spent two nights in a town called Kakuma, 1 mile from the U.N. refugee camp. On Sunday at 1:00pm, we started our journey back to Kitale, expecting to arrive by 3:00am Monday morning.

We got on an old matatu (14 seat van). This matatu had 20 people. The drive from Kakuma to Lodwar is normally 1 and a half hours. About an hour into the trip, the driver stopped the matatu, got out and looked underneath. He then asked us to get out and proceeded to dismantle a part of the car. He then took a hug container of oil and emptied it in the car. I got down on my hands and knees and looked underneath. Sure enough, oil was draining out pretty fast. As the last drops dribbled from the container my first thought was “what if we run out again.” He put the section back together, packed up his tools and we loaded back in. He was going really slowly. About 15 minutes later the driver stopped to drop off a person. The car turned off and wouldn’t start again. After a few minutes, three of us got out and started pushing. After three failed attempts, we finally got it going. We had to run and jump in while the matatu was going. It putted along for another 45 minutes. It stopped again about 2 miles from Lodwar, the town we were going to. We tried pushing but couldn’t get it started. The driver got a rope and tried to tie something together under the car. We gave up and decided to walk the rest of the way, grabbed our bags and set out on foot. Just a ways ahead we hit a lugga (a cement dip that passes through a normally dry river bed for cars to driver through). When we crossed a few days before, it was dry. But today, due to some rain in the area, it was a rushing river. Only buses and large trucks could pass. Small cars and our matatu could not. We stood there stumped for a few minutes, noticing some people forging across on foot. We knew that we could do the same. As I rolled up my pant legs and the girls hiked up their dresses, the locals stopped talking and gathered along the rivers edge on both sides, waiting in anticipation to see if we were really crazy enough to cross. We were, with backpacks on, we went forward with a crowd all around us who decided that it would be fun to also cross with us. By the time we got out to the middle, it was about knee deep, muddy and rushing really fast. If we were to fall, there would not be much hope of catching anything before getting swept down river. We reached the other side safe, much to the surprise of the locals and a Dutch guy who was equally amazed by our stupidity. I don’t know if I would call it stupidity, maybe desperation.

Upon reaching the bus office where I had already booked but was supposed to pick up our tickets, I was told that our bus (leaving at 7:00 that night) next at 7:00 in the morning and we missed it. One of the bridges half way had washed out and now the people had to get out of the bus on one side and board another on the other side. So the bus left in the morning so it could meet the morning bus on the other side. They said we would have to sleep in Lodwar for the night and then catch a bus in the morning. I needed to be back by Monday as we had a full day already planned. I went and found another bus that was leaving that evening and had a bus on the other side of the bridge waiting. They also assured me that we would be in Kitale by 8:00am. After much arguing and me finally whimpering, the first bus gave me my money back. I went and booked on the other bus, getting really bad seats and paying more for them.

After getting the tickets, I went to the market to get baskets. The ones we use for shipping goods to the U.S. I got 14 huge baskets and packed them into three hug sack, hired four guys to carry them to the bus office and paid to have them carried on the bus. I now could rest for a few hours before the bus left. I found the girls and we got some food and relaxed.

At 7:00pm we boarded the bus that was supposed to leave around that time. We sat there until 8:30. The road is just terrible. There are ditches on both sides so the bus in never level, it is always leaning to one side or the other, either the person on the isle seat is crushing the people on the side or being crushed by them on one side and jammed into the paddles armrest on the other side, making for a sleepless and long drive. By 2:00am, we arrive at the half way point where the bridge was broken. I told the girls to hurry if they needed to go to the bathroom or get some food from the small café there. They did, in the meantime I asked the guy who worked on the bus if we were unloading our cargo there or if the bus was going to go closer to the bridge. He said that they would drive right up to the bridge then unload. We quickly got back on the bus and waited, and waited and waited. For 45 minutes we sat there. I went to find the drive but couldn’t. The ground all around the bus was littered with people sleeping, three buses worth. I found a guy who spoke English and asked him what was going on. He told me that there were robbers at the bridge dragging people into the bushes and taking everything as they tried to cross. Now no one was allowed to cross until daylight. I just about lost it. I was so frustrated. I only kept myself together for the sake of Meredith and Cordi. I went back on the bus and told them. We decided to get off and find a place on the ground to sleep. We couldn’t go off far because for sure someone would try to rob us or bother us as we were the only white people there. I found a place by a wall of a closed shop, people were sleeping on both sides, but it was big enough for us. We took our sheets out of our bags and used them to cover the goat poo and try to keep warm. It was hard to sleep as I was so nervous about all the people around and knew that I was responsible for our safety. I drifted in and out of sleep, waking up to rocks jabbing into my side and the smell of goat urine. At 6:00am we were jarred awake by the sound of our bus engine. “I think that’s our bus” Meredith said. Sure enough. We jumped up and grabbed our sheets. Just as we started walking, the bus began to back up. It was leaving without us, we ran and caught up as it was pulling away. “Run and jump on” I told they girls. They did and I followed just before it sped up.

We drove down to the bridge where rows and rows and trucks sat idle, unable to carry their good to the other side. Only a small section of the bridge was still attached, big enough to walk across. I once again hired a few guys to carry my three bundles of baskets from one bus to the other. By 7:30am, all the cargo from one bus had been loaded onto the other. In the midst of waiting, we were told by several people that sure enough the robbers had been stilling from people just hours before and it was very unsafe to cross. We got on the bus and left, reaching Kitale by 11:30am, over 8 hours late.

In the past 20 hours I had pushed a matatu twice, crossed a possibly fatal flooded lugga on foot, been jabbed on the side by a pad-les armrest for hours, slept on the ground on top of goat poop, ran and jumped onto a moving bus in an attempt to not be left behind, avoided being robbed by broken bridge bandits and only kept myself pulled together because I was the man and didn’t want to start crying in front of the girls. Ok, I wouldn’t have cried…

some people might complain, but for me, this was the kind of adventure I live for. I kept reminding myself that whatever doesn’t kill me will make for a really good story.

After reaching Kitale, we had 30 minutes to clean up before Meredith and had to be at our next meeting an hours drive away. I fell into bed at 8:00 that night only to wake up at 4:30am with an extreme case of malaria. No joke…

The martyr in me said I wasn’t that sick and could make it through our morning staff meeting. I conducted the meeting from under a blanket shivering due to a fever. In the midst of praying, I ran to the bathroom and vomited… first time in 8 years. I was more mad that my 8 year vomitless streak was ruined than the fact that I had malaria. I postponed the meeting until another day.

Now I am feeling a bit better, the medication I am on is really strong. I attempted to go out of the house today and have lunch with Meredith and Todd. During lunch I couldn’t carry on a logical conversation. I was convinced that everyone was just out of it, but I guess it was me.

So, that’s life in Kenya. There is a lot of political stuff going on here, but that will be for another e-mail…

Labels: group update, Only in Africa

This morning at 4:45am, I was abruptly woken up by something crawling on my leg. My natural instincts kicked in and I swatted if off. At first I thought it was a big grasshopper but by the thud of it hitting the wall, I knew it was something bigger than a bug. It hit the wall and then the floor and then fluttered on the floor, kind of like a bird. In a dazed stooper, I frantically searched for my flashlight on floor by my bed. I found it and turned it on. As soon as the light hit the thing, it scurried under the wicker chair in my room. From what I could see, it looked like a baby rat, but it moved too slowly to be a rat. I carefully lifted up the chair, not wanting to get attacked by this slow moving baby rat. As the chair move, it ran from the chair to the bed… I about flew half way across the room. “Ok, it’s not going to kill you” I assured myself. I bent down and looked under the bed and realized that this was not a baby rat, but a baby bat. My mind went crazy trying to figure out how a bat got into my room and why it was crawling on me while I was sleeping. My heart was still beating fast, I was now wide awake.

I found an old washing soap container. I wanted to catch this thing so I could show everyone in the morning. There is no way they would believe me without the proof. I had the soap container in one hand and my Bible in the other. Well, it was just the closest thing to hold in my other hind. After some chasing, on the bats and my part, I trapped the it under the soap container. I got it turned over and covered it with my Bible. I got my pocket knife to poke holes in the lid of the container to let air in. Somehow in the process, I just about cut my thumb off. I felt so stupid… should have lost my totem ship (boy scouts reference).

So, here is a picture of my bed bat. I’ll show it off today and then let it go. I hope that my room isn’t becoming a cave. Before I sleep at night I will now be checking for mosquitoes, spider and bats.

Labels: Only in Africa

Yesterday, if you would have visited the Meru Farm Project where a 90 year old grandmother and her 35 orphans grandchildren are living, you would have found them sleeping on the dirt floor, the only warmth coming from the potato sacks each child slept in. But now, thanks to the TI team donations from Nevada, the children will sleep comfortably in their beds, on top of mattress in between sheets and blanket.

The family moved into their new home in April but didn’t have any beds, mattresses or blankets. The TI Kenya team put out a call to the TI Reno crew and they came up with the idea to dedicate one home party, where Kenyan crafts are being sold, to buy beds for the children at the Meru Farm Project. The one party raised far more then was needed for the beds.

1 bed, mattress, sheets and blanket, sleeping two children cost $45. Enough for 35 kids, $720. The cost of an orphan child warm at night, priceless.

Thank you everyone who participated in the home party and made this possible.

Labels: group update

I was riding in a shuttle (10 passenger van) from Nairobi to Kitale on Thursday last week. We were about 30 minutes out of Nairobi, it was 12:00pm, just in the middle of the day. I looked out my window and thought I was watching a movie. Time slowed down as we drove past 3 men wearing ski masks, each holding a M16 pointed at the passengers of a small car. The passengers were exiting the car with their hands in the air. I could not believe I was witnessing a car jacking in the middle of the day. Just a half a mile away was a police check station, totally unaware of the events unfolding around the corner. I told our driver to stop and tell the police, he kept driving. It is so Kenyan to mind your own business even when someone needs help. My heart was beating so fast for a half hour. Only in Kenya, only in Kenya.

I reached Kitale at 7:00pm, dusk. It had rained a good part of the day making all the roads very muddy. I decided that I didn’t want to walk to my house in the mud. I waved down a boda boda (bicycle taxi). I had my backpack full of a weeks clothes on my back, my laptop in its case slung over my shoulder and a huge bag of sacks used for shipping in my arms. The driver was having a hard time peddling up hill because the load was so heavy. We reached the top of the hill and started coasting down. He was going to fast in my opinion. We hit a patch of mud and the back tire started going side to side. Before I knew it, I was laying flat on my back in the mud. I didn’t mention that I was in slacks and a light blue dress shirt. I landed half way on my side and half way on my backpack and laptop. I felt like a turtle that flipped over on its back and couldn’t move. The driver just stood there looking at me in shock. I reached out my hand for him to help me up and I just started laughing. I think he thought I was going to kill him or something. But I just stood there, covered in mud laughing.

My computer still worked fine (it was only the second time in the week it got dropped) and the mud washed out.

Labels: Only in Africa

The situation is sensitive and a bit confidential, also very frustrating. I went to Nairobi last week. I had to solve some governmental issues that have really been frustrating me. In a way, pulling me down and distracting me from what I am supposed to be doing here.

I’ve been asking God to teach me faith. And in a way, I’ve been experiencing God in a whole new way. He has been teaching me faith, but the road to understanding has been rough. I feel like I have a rope tied to my feet and I am being dragged behind a car with my body just bouncing off the bumps in the street. When the car stops, I find that I am covered with scrapes and wounds. When we ask God to teach us something, He does but in ways we don’t expect.

I asked God for favor and for one person in the government office who I could trust. I asked God to close doors that needed to be close and to open the ones that I needed to walk through. I asked God to protect me from corruption.

As I was walking tours the government office, a particular office that when entering, raises much anxiety deep within me, I noticed something that I’ve never seen before. It was a water fountain. Well, I’ve seen it before, but never working. The sound of the water falling was so tranquil and calming. Even though I was already late for my meeting in the government office, I stopped, overwhelm by a peace that truly passed all understanding. And in that moment God spoke ever so clearly to my heart. It was as if He was reminding me that I get so much in the rush of thing, in the business of things, in a task mode, that I forget to stop and enjoy the beauty and the things that He created. In that moment, He also reminded that me that He is with me… always. I forget that a lot. Especially when I am trying to do things on my own, without Him. After pausing at the fountain for a moment, I continued walking to my meeting, but this time the anxiety and fear was gone, replaced with peace and hope and a true understanding that God, my God is in control.

I spent a good part of the day in the offices. When I left, I had hope, I had direction, I knew that thins were going to be ok. I also realized that sometimes faith doesn’t mean just sitting back and doing nothing. It means that even in our faith, we have to take a step, to take an action.

The next day I had to return to the offices again. I took the same path at the same time as the day before. But this time the water fountain wasn’t working. I paused to look at the still pool of water. “Was it really working the day before?” I asked myself. Now, even in its silence, I was reminded of the presence of God I felt the day before and once again, felt that same peace and presence.

I left that office on the second day knowing that it wasn’t about the issue I went to solve; it was about God working in my heart and teaching me faith. It was only that He chose this really hard path for me to walk in order to learn faith. At least to understand a bit more than I did before.

I’m reminded what James says in chapter 2 verse 17; “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

I have to return next week to Nairobi, again to the same offices, hopefully the news will be good and I will be able to close this chapter and start a new one.

I ask God that His grace and mercy and His Spirit will be ever present with me, knowing full well that it is I, myself who makes the choice to acknowledge that He is with me…

Labels: faith

I believe that we have benchmarks in our Christians walk. Times when we can look back and see a quick but evident growth spurt. Most of these times are accompanied with trials and hardships, times of asking God “what the heck is going on.” I’ve been asking God these past few weeks, “what are you doing in my life?” I can’t see the finished product; I only see mass confusion in the midst to my minuscule understanding of God’s grand plan for my life. It’s evident that God is brining me through a growing time and his lesson for me this month is faith. Faith that He, my God and Father, has total and complete control of my life. I literally hate it that I can’t seem to learn this lesson. It is like a child learning 1+1 is 2. But the child says that 1+1 is sadflkn. That is how I feel when God is trying to teach me faith. It is as if I am not even understanding the same language.

Growing up I was a worrier, I worried all the time about everything. I remember at the age of 6 worrying about getting my wisdom teeth pulled. I had to be in total control of every aspect of my life. As a child, that was hard, but I seemed to manage. “Mom, I need to know the plan for the whole day. Even though I am a kid and riding in the back seat of the car and really, just along for the ride, I need to know every step of the day so I can be in somewhat control of “knowing” the plans.” I really was like that. Now that same control has moved with me into my adult years. Living in Kenya has loosened me up… A LOT! But still, faith, what is it? Why can’t I understand is? Why can’t I trust God? I mean, I trust God with the basic things, but when it comes to the big issues, I have a hard time.

These past two weeks, I have been deeply convicted about my lack of faith. I mean a conviction that just hit the core of my being. It penetrated so deep within my soul that I spent several sleepless nights pleading with God to help me to understand.

I’ve asked God to teach me faith, to help me to understand faith. I’ve come to a place of utter brokenness. Not a brokenness because of my sinful nature (not that that isn’t there… it is) but a brokenness in realizing how many years of my life I have wasted trying to do things on my own. How far could I be now, how could God be using me now if only I would have trusted Him so so long ago. I know the answer, I don’t want to think about it. The truth is, I wouldn’t be struggling with the seemingly simple things now. But I don’t doubt God, I don’t doubt that He has me right where He wants me right now at this time. Gosh, without this lesson I am going through now, I would be stuck where I was. Well, honestly, I still feel a bit stuck, but I see hope. I see God reaching His mighty hand deep into this pit of self reliance I have spent so much time and effort digging for myself.

I got to a place last week of brokenness. No, more like being shattered. I’ve never been able to spend hours on end in endless prayer. But it is easy when in a place of brokenness. Brokenness is a good thing. It means that God is getting through my thick head and reaching my heart, the heart of knowing Him not only as Jesus who died for my sins, but Father who wants to see me grow, who disciplines me only because He lives me. A father who wants me to want Him. Who wants me to NEED him. Through tear filled eyes, I told God in true sincerity that I need Him. That I can’t go through life without Him. I told God, as I was kneeling on the floor, that I don’t want to do anything in life where I don’t need Him. I don’t want to be in control anymore.

The newness of trusting God wore away after a few days and I found myself again worrying. I had to repent again and give that area to God. I felt that it was the end of a hard college class and they passed out the exam. I thought I studied, I thought I knew what all the answer were, but when I got the results back, I realized that I failed and had to take the class again. And again I ask, “God, what are you doing?”

Life is exciting and I am looking forward to being on the other end of this lesson God is taking me through now.

Labels: group update

After posting my last blog this morning, I ran to town to get the news paper and sure enough, the killings in Kitale made the front page of the Nation News paper here in Kenya.

“COLD BLOOD MURDER”

Daily Nation Saturday May 5, 2007

Eleven people were killed in cold blood in a district bordering the clash torn Mt. Elgon, fuelling speculation that the flare ups could be spreading to neighboring regions. The killings, which were conducted in an execution style, occurred on Thursday night at Matisi area, just outside Kitale Town. Four other were left seriously injured when a gang of about 15 raiders struck Matisi trading centre, near Kitale. The killings brought the number of people shot dead by armed gangsters in the precincts of Kitale to 17 in less than two weeks. By early yesterday morning, fresh blood stains were evident at the scene of the attack, about four kilometers from Kitale police station. I least two kiosks had bullet marks…

The two page article goes on to say that the police received a phone call before the killings warning them that gangsters were indeed coming to the area to kill people. It is also said that the killings are due to “tribal clashes.” The clashes have been going on for a few months at Mt Elgon, close to where I am staying. In the area over 100 schools have been closed due to insecurity there.

The police have increased in Kitale Town and we don’t expect anymore incidences. I personally don’t feel that I am in any danger. I will keep posting any updates on this issue.

Labels: News

It has been a while since my last group update. April was a busy month. We were busy writing updates on every single child in the TI program for their sponsors as well as getting picture. Todd and I also moved out of our house. Our lease ran out and because we are renting a new place in July, the landlord didn’t want to extend it for two months for us. So, I moved into the house I was living in before with another ministry. Todd moved out to Kiminini to be closer to the construction work he is doing there for the children’s home.

I spent last week in Uganda speaking at a youth conference. I left on Tuesday and traveled there by public means. I got to town by 7:00am to get a matatu (14 seat van). The main stage was not open yet so I had to catch a matatu just by the side of the road. I asked the conductor weather he was going directly to Bungoma or to Wabuya first. He would not answer me. Before we left, I had to get off and tell him to answer me where he was going. He then assured me that he was going directly to Bungoma. So I got back on. But because I got off, I lost my good seat at the front and had to cram in the back. About half way to Bungoma I noticed that we took the turn to Wabuya and not Bungoma. He had lied to me just to get me on his matatu. It was one and a half hours to Wabuya, I got off there and had to catch another to Bungoma (45 minutes). Once I reached Bungoma I caught my third matatu to Malaba, the border to Kenya and Uganda. Once I reached the border, I got a bodaboda (bike taxi). I could have walked if I didn’t have a bag, but it was too fare to walk with a weeks worth of clothes and three pairs of shoes in my bag. I had to first go through the Kenya immigration to get an exit stamp, cross the border and then go to the Uganda immigration to buy a visa ($30). Once I finished there, the boda boda took me to the matatu stage on the other side. It took an hour for the matatu to fill up. We then headed out on a 4 hour drive to Kampala. Once in Kampala I met up with the Ugandan friends. From there, we took yet another matatu tours their home (45 more minutes) then we dropped on the main road and took a piki piki (motorcycle taxi) to their house. The whole trip lasted about 10 hours. We still had three more hours to go the next day.

I spent the night at their house. I met this family last year. Living in their house is 5 young single siblings between 17 and 30 years old. Their parents died when some of them were young and the oldest brother, 30 has been taking care of them. Now, only the 17 year old is still in school, the other 4 are all employed with good jobs. I had a great time getting to know them better and hanging out with them. They are a really neat group of people.

Wednesday I went to the church of the people who I was staying with and preached at their lunch meeting. From there, we got a matatu and went three hours to a place in Western Uganda called Mubenda, arriving there about 6:00pm. Some other people were supposed to be teaching at the youth conference with us but didn’t make it, so there was only two of us to teach for three days.

The conference was great. There were about 150 at the conference between 15 and 25 years old. I ended up teaching about 6 hours each day.

I staid with a Uganda family and their 7 children in their home. We stayed up late each night laughing and talking. They taught me how to dance calypso.

Sunday morning I preached at their church of 700 people. That afternoon I headed back to Kampala and the next day a 10 hour trip back to Kitale.

It is good to be back although this month will be busy with a shipment going out to the U.S. and trip to Turkana.

Transformed International stuff is going great! Check out the web page www.transformedinternational.org for all the updates from last month and be looking for some new updates in the coming weeks.

Personally I am doing well. I have been really dealing with a lack of faith this past month. There are some Kenyan government issues I’ve been faced with over the past two months that have been really discouraging, yet, I know that God is in control. But even knowing that God is in control, I have to remind myself daily. You would think that because I am a “missionary” living in Africa, I would have so much faith, but that is one of the areas I struggle with the most. I am by nature a worrier and battle worry daily. I can’t seem to get it through my head that God, my mighty God who has never let me down before, will not let me down in the future. I have to yield many things to God daily and sometimes twice a day. I also have to see that God uses the government and other areas to guide us to the places He wants us to be. Philippians 4:19 “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory…”

Other big news, there have been some major tribal clashes about an hour and a half away from where I live on Mount Elgon. Last night the clashes moved to are area; about 10 miles away and 8 guys were killed. The town increased its police and they were stopping all cars on the road going in and out of Kitale looking for people with guns. I will see what the news says tomorrow and send out another update.

Labels: group update

This article is from the Kenya Daily Nation news paper Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Man chops off genitals to “punish” wife

A man shopped off his penis following a quarrel with his wife in Kakamega District. The victim, who a shoe repair man decided to cut off his manhood as a “punishment” to his wife after a tiff over finances. The man was incensed that his wife could not spare him some few shillings to buy materials for his shoe repair business. The Saturday incident happened shortly after his wife had left for a menial job in the neighborhood. Earlier, the couple was reported to have had a bitter verbal exchange after the man demanded money from his wife. Area assistant chief Fredrick said the man needed the money to buy some thread to mend customers’ pairs of shoes but failed to get the cash. The man then locked himself in a room and used a sharp scalpel to chop off his genitailia. He could not bear the pain and his screams alerted the neighbors, who on breaking into the house, found him writhing in pain. They rushed him to the hospital for treatment.

Only in Kenya

Labels: Only in Africa